Business Highlights + MORE Nov 17th

TORONTO – TD Bank (TSX:TD) has quietly increased its fixed mortgage rates ahead of a similar move by Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY) to take effect Thursday, the latest sign that Canada’s big banks are hiking the costs of borrowing for homeowners.
Cheryl Ficker, a spokeswoman for TD, said Wednesday that the lender raised its special rate offer for a four-year fixed mortgage by five basis points to 2.44 per cent and for a five-year fixed mortgage by 10 basis points to 2.69 per cent. The changes kicked in Tuesday and affect all amortization periods, Ficker said.
Rob McLister, a mortgage broker at IntelliMortgage and founder of RateSpy.com, said he expects the other big banks will quickly move in lockstep because of a massive sell-off in the bond market that has made it more expensive for banks to get access to cash.
.cbR{box-sizing:border-box;display:block;width:100%;margin:1em 0;border:1px solid #bbb;padding:.5em}@media (min-width:480px){.cbR{width:250px;margin:0 0 1em 1em;float:right}}Higher mortgage rates coming tomorrow and Trump’s to blame
“When bond yields shoot up 25-plus basis points like we’ve seen in the last week, the big banks move like a herd,” said McLister…

A sudden interest rate increase that spikes borrowing costs, causes a big drop in house prices and leads to the failure of a domestic financial institution could cost Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. more than $1 billion in losses, the federal agency says.

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The American dream of a blissful retirement, free of financial worries, is dying.
Most U.S. households are heading for a worse lifestyle in retirement than they had while they were working, because they simply aren’t saving enough, experts say. Thirty-five per cent of households in their prime earning years or later have nothing saved in a retirement account and no access to a traditional pension, according to an AP analysis of savings data from the Federal Reserve.
Among households that do have some savings, the typical amount is $73,200. That’s about 15 months of the median household’s income.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This is part of Divided America, AP’s ongoing exploration of the economic, social and political divisions in American society.
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One group doesn’t have to worry as much: the richest 10 per cent of households. They typically have more than $413,000 in a retirement account, according to the analysis of the Fed’s latest data, which is from 2013…

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Yellen says she isn’t going anywhere when Trump takes office
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen appears unruffled by incoming President Donald Trump’s victory last week.
Her remarks to Congress Thursday suggest that the central bank is on track to raise interest rates at its meeting in December, one month before Trumps takes office. She said she has no plans to step down before her four-year term ends on Feb. 3, 2018, reiterated the Fed’s political independence and vigorously defended tougher bank regulations established in the wake of the financial crisis. An improving U.S. economy has bolstered the case for raising interest rates, Yellen told Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.
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America’s shift to SUVs is on display at L.A. Auto Show
America’s shift from cars to SUVs is starting to look permanent, and automakers are scrambling to meet the demand.
Toyota, Ford, Subaru, Jeep and Volkswagen are all showing new SUVs at this week’s Los Angeles Auto Show…

Writer-director-actor Warren Beatty in Los Angeles, Oct. 6, 2016. Beatty’s new film, “Rules Don’t Apply” is the first film he has written, directed and starred in since “Bulworth,” in 1998. (Emily Berl/The New York Times)
By the time most Hollywood actors reach Warren Beatty’s age, they’ve made a few concessions. They sign to subpar projects, leveraging their fading star power into an easy paycheque. But at 79, Warren Beatty, icon of the New Hollywood Cinema, remains uncompromised.
Unlike his contemporaries, he’s never made a Bucket List or a Dirty Grandpa or a Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. “I got lucky that way,” says Beatty, in a hotel press junket for Rules Don’t Apply, his first film as writer-director-producer in 16 years. “Maybe it’s more than luck. I’ve never had to go and do something for the money.”
Thanks to an early financial jackpot—Warner Brothers offered a 29-year-old Beatty something like 40 per cent of the grosses for 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde, thinking the film was a dud—he’s never had to shill for work…