Hello and welcome to Friday News Finds – a new weekly series we will be featuring on the Blog. Each Friday we will share five of the business news stories that dominated the papers (and our conversations) this week.

The US. Federal Reserve announced it’s decision to raise interest rates by one quarter of a percentage point. No word yet on how Canadian policy makers will respond but the change in US rates will likely trigger a similar raise in rates and a drop in dollar value north of the boarder.

Bitcoin continues to the be topic de jouer as investors keep clamouring for access to the cryptocurrency. The value of bitcoin continues to skyrocket, and some experts are starting to grow skeptical – are we heading for a commodity crash? SEC Chairman Jay Clayton thinks so – and he’s issued a statement saying as such.

BCG has bad news for Canada – the US based consulting group announced this week that declines in consumer spending, residential investment and oil and gas prices will hit Canada’s GDP – hard. According to BCG, Canadian’s can expect annual GDP growth to drop from its 1995-2016 average of 2.4%, down to 1.2% for the next 13 years. Ouch.

Attention moviegoers, the world of entertainment production just became a whole lot smaller. This week Disney announced their intent to buy a large chunk of 21st Century Fox  The finer details of the deal have yet to be announced, but the US $52.4 billion transaction will grant the mouse significant control over Fox’s film and TV empire.

And finally, marijuana continues to dominate Canadian news. As the country marches towards legalization this summer, stocks continue to rise with investors earning generous returns. At least one investor group isn’t happy about that – current growth in the market has harmed short sellers who attempted to bet on the stabilization or decline of the market.

– Tegan Valentine