National Business

DETROIT (AP) — Despite a small dip in U.S. vehicle sales, General Motors' first-quarter net income rose more than 25% on strong deliveries of pickup trucks and other higher-profit vehicles.

TORONTO — Equifax Canada is exploring how rent data could factor in to credit scores to help make credit and financial services accessible to more people.

PepsiCo reported better-than-expected revenue in the first quarter on strong international demand for its snacks and beverages. The Purchase, New York-based company said revenue rose 2% to $18.3 billion for the January-April period.

TORONTO — Landing a job isn't as easy as it was a few years ago, especially for younger Canadians, as the labour market continues to loosen.

MONTREAL — AtkinsRéalis says it has won a contract as part of the project to build the new Île d'Orléans bridge in Quebec. Financial terms of the deal were not immediately available.

Maureen Gordon has weathered hard times before. She and her husband began running ecotourism outfit Maple Leaf Adventures out of Vancouver about a month before the 9/11 terrorist attacks devastated international travel in 2001.

SHERBROOKE, Que. — On Monday morning in Sherbrooke, Que., dozens of tractors slowly rolled along a stretch of road between the regional offices of Quebec's farmers association and the Agriculture Department a few hundred meters away.

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A federal jury on Monday said BNSF Railway contributed to the deaths of two people who were exposed to asbestos decades ago when tainted mining material was shipped through a Montana town where thousands have been sickened.

EDMONTON — The Alberta government is stepping in to stop Calgary residents from being forced to pay hefty surcharges on their power bills.

GATINEAU, Que. — Federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan says he has appointed an Industrial Inquiry Commission to dig deeper into the underlying causes of B.C.'s port strike last summer.