OTTAWA - Statistics Canada says non-resident investors acquired $14.9 billion of Canadian securities in April, adding both debt and equity securities to their holdings. The agency says Canadian investors added $2.8 billion of foreign securities, a third straight month of acquisitions. It says foreign investment in Canadian securities was led by debt instruments, mainly reflecting private corporate bonds and the first acquisition of money market instruments in 2013.

The United States posted a current account deficit of $106.15 billion for the January-March quarter, up 3.7 percent from the previous three-month period and the first increase in four quarters, due mainly to a sharp fall in the income surplus, Commerce Department data showed Friday.

World oil prices finished on a high note on geopolitical worries in Syria, having begun the week on the back foot following news of strong OPEC oil output, US shale production forecasts and Chinese demand fears. Other commodities were dented somewhat by weak Chinese data and after the World Bank slashed its growth forecast for China's economy this year to 7.7 percent from 8.4 percent. Markets were also roiled by fears of central banks pulling the plug on their extraordinary stimulus measures that are aimed at supporting global economic growth.

Sustained low interest rates by the US Federal Reserve could affect the profitability of the American insurance sector, a report by the US Treasury Department said Wednesday. In 2012, as it continued to crawl out from the financial crisis, the life and health insurance sector posted a record net premiums of $645 billion, and property-casualty insurance firms counted $460 billion in new premiums, according to the report.