Here are five things you need to know this morning:

May housing numbers: We got an updated look at resale housing numbers today, when the Canadian Real Estate Association released figures for the month of May. It’s typically a busy month for the housing market, but the current era of high interest rates have thrown normal seasonal trends out the window for a while now. Sales inched lower and new listings inched higher, the realtor group said, describing the market as “sleepy.” While it isn’t included in May’s numbers, the biggest catalyst for the housing market likely came last week, when the Bank of Canada cut interest rates for the first time in more than four years. “The question now turns to further rate cuts – specifically, how fast, and how far,” CREA’s chief economist Shaun Cathcart said in a release. As of the end of May, there were 175,000 properties listed for sale on MLS. That’s up by 28 per cent from a year ago but still below historical averages. On the price side, the average resale price of a home dipped below $700,000, coming in at $699,117 during the month. That’s a decline of four per cent from May 2023.

Corus CEO to retire: The CEO of Canadian media company Corus Entertainment is retiring, to be replaced by two people who will share the title of co-CEO. Effective immediately, Doug Murphy is retiring as CEO and president of the company that owns Global Television and numerous other broadcast assets. John Gossling, who will also remain in his current role as chief financial officer, has been named co-CEO along with former broadcast journalist Troy Reeb.

Primo Water and BlueTriton set to merge: There’s a major consolidation happening in the bottled water industry as Primo Water Corp and BlueTriton Brands are set to join forces. BlueTriton, which owns Poland Spring, Pure Life and other brands, will own 57 per cent of the new company while Primo Water, which owns Mountain Valley, Aquaterra and other brands, will own 43 per cent. Primo Water shares are dual-listed on the TSX and the stock has gained 53 per cent this year.

Copper price pulls back from record highs: After surging to multi-year highs last month, the price of copper has now fallen steadily on mounting signs of an economic slowdown in China; one of the major markets for the industrial metal. A pound of copper is going for US$4.43 in New York this morning. That’s well down from the multi-year high of $5.11 it hit in May.

PSP posts 7.2% return despite real estate slump: Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board notched a 7.2 per cent return on its investments last year, as a bull run on the stock market offset a 16 per cent decline in the value of its real estate portfolio. The fund posted annual results on Monday and the numbers showed double-digit growth in stocks, private equity, credit and infrastructure assets. Fixed income and natural resource assets eked out a small gain, while the value of the fund’s real estate assets declined by $5 billion. That wiped out several years of gains.