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The neon rainbow playground ball is a top seller. Pop fidget pencil cases and journals sold out coast-to-coast in three weeks. Backpacks with dinosaur and mermaid prints are flying off the shelves.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose for the first time in five weeks even though the economy and job market have been recovering briskly from the coronavirus pandemic.

TORONTO — Canada has ended evacuations from Kabul’s airport, a Canadian general said Thursday, as the clock ticks down on dramatic Western efforts to help people flee the Taliban takeover ahead of a full American withdrawal.

TORONTO — Some of the most active companies traded Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange: Toronto Stock Exchange (20,587.32, up 39.56 points.) Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU). Energy. Down one cent, or 0.04 per cent, to $23.54 on 19.4 million shares.

TORONTO — North American equity markets rose higher Thursday, as Canada's main stock index, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 all extended a run of fresh highs.

MONTREAL — National Bank of Canada says no-commission trading at its direct brokerage was years in the works as part of an effort to increase its client base. "This is not a brain cramp that happened this summer.

CALGARY — Imperial Oil Ltd. is planning to build a renewable diesel complex at its Strathcona refinery near Edmonton, using locally grown vegetable oils to meet growing customer demand for cleaner burning fuel products.

OnlyFans says it has suspended a plan to ban sexually explicit content following an outcry from its creators and advocates for sex workers.

TORONTO — RBC chief executive David McKay says that while the COVID-19 Delta variant could slow the economic recovery, it shouldn't be enough to halt the current momentum.

HALIFAX — As restaurateurs across the country scramble to fill thousands of jobs, a common refrain has emerged: If the government wasn’t paying workers to stay home, the labour shortage plaguing the restaurant industry wouldn’t exist.