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Strong El Niño forecast raises the stakes for winter preparedness: Six maintenance tips to help protect your home now

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Intact Insurance shares practical tips to help homeowners prepare for the colder months ahead

TORONTO, Oct. 7, 2026 /CNW/ — As Canadians prepare for the colder months ahead, Intact Insurance is reminding homeowners that a little prevention can go a long way. Nearly two-thirds1 of Canada’s landmass is covered in snow for more than six months each year and winter weather patterns are becoming increasingly unpredictable, especially with a strong El Niño forecasted for the 2026-27 winter2.

“What happens thousands of kilometres away in the Pacific can have an influence on the weather we experience here in Canada,” says Jonathan Gadoury, meteorologist at Intact Insurance. “The signals we’re monitoring around El Niño suggest parts of the country could experience more frequent freeze-thaw cycles, freezing rain and ice accumulation this winter. While no seasonal forecast is exact, it’s a reminder that homeowners should prepare early rather than wait for the first major weather event.”

With changing weather conditions on the horizon, fall is a good time for homeowners to turn their attention to the things they can control and prepare their homes for the colder months ahead.

“Many of the most common winter-related issues start with small maintenance problems that go unnoticed until temperatures drop,” says Mel Wright, Vice President and Head of Intact Insurance’s Prevention program. “Taking action now, whether it’s clearing your eavestroughs, checking your roof or testing your sump pump, can help homeowners identify vulnerabilities before winter weather puts them to the test. Through KeepItIntact.ca, homeowners can access trusted advice, seasonal checklists and tools to help make it easier to prepare for the weather ahead.”

Get ahead of winter: six maintenance tips to help protect your home

Clean your eavestroughs and downspouts

Leaves and other debris can clog eavestroughs preventing water from draining properly. When temperatures fluctuate, trapped water can freeze and contribute to ice buildup and water damage.

Inspect your roof and house siding

Look for damaged, loose, or missing shingles or siding and address repairs before winter weather arrives. Even small issues can worsen when exposed to snow, ice, and strong winds.

Trim trees and remove dead branches

Heavy rain, freezing rain, snow, ice accumulation, and strong winds can cause weakened branches to fall and damage roofs, vehicles, fences, and power lines.

Seal drafts around doors and windows

Replacing worn weatherstripping and sealing gaps can prevent cold air and moisture from entering your home.

Check exterior drainage and test your sump pump

Ensure water is directed at least 2 metres away from your home’s foundation and that the drains remain clear to reduce the risk of pooling water and potential freeze-thaw damage.

Prepare your outdoor spaces

a. Detach all garden hoses and close the [indoor] shut-off valve for your outdoor faucet and drain the water from the faucet.
b. Secure outdoor objects like trash cans, patio furniture, barbecue, and inspect decks and fences.

Keep It Intact

In 2025, Intact launched a national prevention program called Keep it Intact. The program provides an array of tools, solutions, and practical advice to empower Canadians to protect their properties. With many easily implemented and proven tips, homeowners can take proactive steps to help prevent or reduce damage from extreme weather.

For more prevention tips and seasonal checklists, visit keepitintact.ca.

The Jiffy app, helping homeowners protect their homes

With 20% of Canadians6 finding it hard to secure reliable contractors as one of their top three barriers to taking additional steps to protect their home against extreme weather, access to trusted professionals emerges as a notable challenge. Jiffy helps homeowners handle seasonal maintenance and make their home more resilient to severe weather by connecting them with vetted experts for on-demand home maintenance and repair services. Jiffy currently operates in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton and Montreal.

https://www.keepitintact.ca/

About Intact Financial Corporation

Intact Financial Corporation (TSX: IFC) is a global provider of property and casualty insurance founded on core values and a belief that insurance is about people, not things. Intact’s success is fueled by its 32,000 employees worldwide who embody the company’s purpose: to help people, businesses and society prosper in good times and be resilient in bad times. To achieve its ambitions, Intact seeks to ensure customers are its advocates, its people are engaged and the company is one of the most respected.

Intact is the largest provider of property and casualty insurance in Canada and has successfully exported its strengths across North America, the UK, and Europe. Its growing commercial and specialty solutions network now spans over 150 countries. With a customer-driven mindset, Intact has expanded its operations to include insurance distribution, restoration and prevention.

Intact solidifies its outperformance by leveraging its competitive advantages: global leadership in data and AI for pricing and risk selection; deep claims expertise and integrated supply chain network; and strong capital and investment management. Intact’s total annual operating Direct Premiums Written has tripled over the last decade to $25 billion.

Explore Intact’s offerings at intactfc.com. 

SOURCE Intact Financial Corporation

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Jellyfish Advances Developer and Agent Productivity Insights for the AI-Native SDLC

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Engineering intelligence platform’s new and updated features include lifecycle explorer, AI skill adoption measurements, and AI spend-to-work attribution

BOSTON, Oct. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Jellyfish, the leading Software Engineering Intelligence and AI Impact Platform, today announced a comprehensive suite of features to help organizations measure the impact of AI engineering tools. The features, launched during Jellyfish’s inaugural AI Impact Week, empower engineering teams to go beyond measuring adoption to understand how their organizations are transforming with AI and whether those investments are delivering value for the business.

“The software development process continues to be transformed by AI, and the industry’s standard metrics, tools, and processes have struggled to keep pace,” said Andrew Lau, CEO of Jellyfish. “Our platform makes it possible for engineering leaders to understand what’s actually happening in the AI-native SDLC, from adoption to productivity to cost to ROI. Most importantly, it is designed to evolve with the industry and keep pace with every new tool, model release, and workflow.”

Where Do I Stand: New Features to Measure Granular Usage

Jellyfish now ingest signals from across the engineering stack so leaders can see human work, AI-assisted human work, and fully autonomous agent activity side by side.

Lifecycle Explorer: A top-down view of where time actually goes across the AI-DLC. Helping engineering leaders avoid the most expensive mistake in AI investment right now — buying more code generation when review is the bottleneck.AI Cohorts: Designed to segment and track how developers interact with generative AI coding tools including GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and Claude Code to help engineering leaders understand adoption and impact.Metrics Explorer: Complete analysis across human contributors and fully autonomous agents, providing a clear, top-level picture of how AI is impacting overall velocity. Users can also create Custom Metrics by describing what they want in natural language and letting the platform build it.Jellyfish Assistant and Agents: AI-powered chat interface that proactively surfaces insights, delivers trusted answers, and builds what you need to see based on each organization’s engineering context.Research Insights: In-context research insights within the Jellyfish platform allow users to compare AI use against more than 1,300 other companies on the Jellyfish platform.

“Jellyfish’s new AI features give us the ability to synthesize data that exists in Jira, Cursor, and GitLab repositories, combine all of that together and simply ask a question,” said Bill Pawlikowski, VP of Engineering at Daxko. “The fact that we can ask a question and get an answer from that ecosystem has been mindblowing.”

Am I Transforming: Understanding How Teams Work with Agents

Measuring throughput in an agentic world is now table stakes for engineering organizations. Jellyfish now helps leaders understand how their teams work with agents and optimize that activity.

Skill Adoption: Real-time tracking of which AI skills and practices are spreading across an engineering organization, which teams have them, and which teams are falling behind.Behavioral Metrics: Designed to assess how well human engineers are working together with AI agents. Allows engineering leaders to understand which teams are compounding growth with AI and which are spinning their wheels.

“We’ve rebuilt Jellyfish from the ground up,” said Adam Ferrari, SVP Engineering at Jellyfish. “Rearchitected on an AI-native data foundation, our platform goes beyond engineering analytics to help R&D leaders deeply understand, measure, and transform their AI practice.”

What Is It Worth: Tracking AI Cost and Where Investment is Flowing

Many engineering organizations still struggle to track spending on AI tools due to differences in pricing models and spending reports. Jellyfish allows engineering organizations to view all AI spending in one place, including reconciliation between API-reported and telemetry-reported cost.

Token Usage and Spend: Track token use by tool and by model, allowing engineering leaders to see which teams are getting real leverage and scale accordingly.Spend-to-work Attribution: Go beyond how much organizations are spending to track where AI spending is going — which initiatives, which deliverables, and which parts of the roadmap.AI Cost Benchmarks: Allows organizations to compare spend, outcomes, and spend efficiency with hundreds of industry peers.Total R&D Cost: See AI spend in the context of total R&D cost (People + AI), so the business can make informed decisions with the full scope of investment in mind.AI Capacity: A measure of change in capacity using AI that normalizes output to headcount, feeding more accurate headcount planning in this new AI world.

“More than two years into the AI revolution, R&D teams are still struggling to prove whether their AI investments are paying off,” said Krishna Kannan, Head of Product at Jellyfish. “Engineering leaders don’t need more reports, they need actionable insights. We built Jellyfish’s suite of AI features to provide definitive answers on where and how teams are delivering value today.”

Jellyfish’s AI Impact Week, a three-day virtual event, includes live demos of new features Wednesday, Oct. 7, and concludes on Thursday, Oct. 8, with fireside discussions featuring leaders from AWS, Linear, IBM, Slalom, and CFGI.

About Jellyfish
Jellyfish is the leading Software Engineering Intelligence and AI Impact Platform, helping companies like DraftKings, Box, and Blue Yonder leverage AI to transform how they build software. By combining the industry’s deepest engineering dataset with context-rich intelligence, Jellyfish helps R&D organizations understand what’s driving impact, adopt proven industry best practices, and make smarter decisions across AI adoption, planning, delivery, and engineering performance.

Mark Dunphy
mark@hooklineand.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jellyfish-advances-developer-and-agent-productivity-insights-for-the-ai-native-sdlc-302901000.html

SOURCE Jellyfish

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SingPost Introduces Asia’s First Digital Stamp for Domestic Mail

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A convenient, digital way to mail letters within Singapore, marking World Post Day 2026Complements SingPost@MyBlock network which has been rolled out across more than 20,000 residential blocks Introductory trial rates start from $1 for a set of five stamps, valid until 6 April 2027

SINGAPORE, Oct. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Singapore Post Limited (SingPost) today commenced the public trial phase for Asia’s first Digital Stamp, marking a regional milestone in a postage system for everyday domestic mail, in conjunction with World Post Day 2026. The service allows senders to buy postage instantly via the SingPost mobile app and post a letter or postcard without physical stamps or labels.

From now till 6 April 2027, SingPost is seeking public feedback in this pilot trial phase through a survey within the mobile app. This initial phase enables SingPost to refine user experience, optimise optical character recognition (OCR) scanning accuracy, and fine-tune operational workflows under real-world posting volumes.

Hyper-Convenient Postage for Everyday Use 
Buying a physical stamp traditionally meant visiting a post office, a SingPost vending machine, or a Self-Service Kiosk. Digital Stamps allow postage to be purchased anywhere, at any time, through the SingPost mobile app and used immediately.

“When we looked at the mailing experience, the friction point was always the same — you have written your card, addressed your envelope, and then realised you have no stamp. Digital Stamps remove that barrier entirely. As Asia’s first app-integrated postage code, it is as simple as buying a code on your phone, writing it on the envelope, and posting it at your block. Coupled with SingPost@MyBlock, we are making posting a letter as seamless as sending a message.”

“The trial phase is important to us — we want to hear from customers and get the experience right before we build further. The designs will evolve with the seasons and with Singapore’s occasions. We are just getting started,” said Gan Heng, Head of Customer Experience, SingPost.

Complementary Solution to SingPost@MyBlock
The introduction of digital stamps builds on SingPost’s ongoing modernisation of its postal and logistics services, directly complementing the rollout of SingPost@MyBlock. Completed by September 2026 across over 20,000 buildings, residents across Singapore can use the “Return Mail” slot in existing letterbox nests where available, to post letters and small parcels.

Preserving Heritage in Digital Stamps 
The mobile app retains traditional philatelic aesthetics, featuring the 61st National Day design for Standard Regular mail (S$0.62) and a World Post Day Otter design for Standard Large mail (S$0.90). Digital stamp artwork will be refreshed periodically for festive and national occasions. Every 15th purchase unlocks a special design. Presently this special design features the Fullerton Building – home of Singapore’s first General Post Office as the surprise stamp design.

How it works

Buy: Purchase Digital Stamps on the SingPost app and get the unique codes instantly.Write: Write a code clearly in dark blue or black ink, in the top-right corner of the envelope, where a stamp would normally go.Post: Drop the letter into any posting box, post office, or the “Return Mail” slot at residential letterbox nests following the rollout of SingPost@MyBlock.

The stamps cover basic mail (letters, postcards, and printed paper items in a paper envelope) for domestic delivery within Singapore.

Pilot Trial Phase and Introductory Promotional Rates
To encourage public adoption, registered users on the SingPost mobile app can purchase introductory trial sets – a set of five Standard Regular Digital Stamps for S$1.00 (usual price S$3.10) and a set of five Standard Large Digital Stamps for S$1.50 (usual price S$4.50). One promotional set of each denomination may be purchased per customer. Digital Stamps purchased at the promotional rate are valid for posting through 6 April 2027. All other digital stamps purchased through the app are valid for 24 months from the date of purchase.

From 8-11 October 2026, SingPost is hosting a free public roadshow at the atrium of SingPost Centre to provide the public with the opportunity to better understand various operational aspects of Digital Stamps and the latest developments in the postal service.

Pricing and availability
Digital Stamps are  available from today on the SingPost app, with a minimum purchase of five stamps per denomination:

Standard Regular – $0.62 eachStandard Large – $0.90 eachValidity: 24 months from the date of purchase

Introductory Trial Promotion:

Standard Regular Set of 5: S$1.00 (usual price S$3.10)Standard Large Set of 5: S$1.50 (usual price S$4.50)Promotional price valid for only 1 set each per account, promotional priced stamps are valid through 6 April 2027.

Digital stamps are non-refundable, non-cancellable, and valid strictly for postage within Singapore.

About Singapore Post Limited
Singapore Post (SingPost) is the country’s leading postal and eCommerce logistics provider. The portfolio of businesses spans international postal services, warehousing, fulfilment and last mile delivery, serving customers in more than 220 global destinations. Headquartered in Singapore, SingPost has approximately 3,000 employees. Since its inception in 1858, the Group has evolved and innovated to bring about best-in-class integrated logistics solutions and services, making every delivery count for people and planet. www.singpost.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/singpost-introduces-asias-first-digital-stamp-for-domestic-mail-302900981.html

SOURCE Singapore Post

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Harris | Oakmark continues to expand active ETF suite targeting U.S. value opportunities

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CHICAGO, Oct. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Harris | Oakmark announces the launch of a new exchange-traded fund: Oakmark U.S. Concentrated ETF (OAKL). Consistent with other Harris | Oakmark offerings, the ETF employs a value investment philosophy to identify quality companies priced at a discount to the investment team’s estimate of intrinsic value and seeks competitive long-term performance by investing in focused portfolios grounded in disciplined, bottom-up research.

The launch expands Harris | Oakmark’s active ETF suite, joining the Morningstar Gold Medalist-rated Oakmark U.S. Large Cap ETF (OAKM), Oakmark International Large Cap ETF (OAKI) and Oakmark Global Large Cap ETF (OAKG). The firm’s ETFs combine value investing expertise with the benefits of an ETF structure, including transparency, intra-day liquidity, and the potential for tax-efficient investing.

The Oakmark U.S. Concentrated ETF (OAKL) is managed by Alex Fitch, CFA, Portfolio Manager, Director of U.S. Research, and Co-Chief Investment Officer – U.S., and Robert Bierig, Deputy Chairman and Portfolio Manager. OAKL will typically hold 15-25 larger U.S. companies, providing a concentrated, high-conviction approach to large-cap value.

“With this new fund, we continue to offer clients our consistent value investment philosophy,” said Alex Fitch. “Our approach is rooted in understanding businesses from the bottom up and investing when we believe a meaningful gap exists between price and intrinsic value. We then apply a patient discipline while that gap closes over time.”

“A concentrated portfolio is a natural extension of that discipline,” added Robert Bierig. “OAKL reflects our approach of allocating capital to a focused group of businesses where we see the most compelling long-term opportunities for investors.”

Learn more about Harris | Oakmark ETFs: www.oakmark.com/ETFs.

About Harris | Oakmark
For five decades, Harris | Oakmark has delivered value-driven investment solutions with a highly active, disciplined and long-term approach. Headquartered in Chicago, IL, with approximately $106 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2026, the firm follows a differentiated research‑intensive approach to uncovering intrinsic value. Investment teams leverage bottom‑up fundamental research, rigorous debate and value discipline to construct concentrated portfolios designed for consistent, competitive performance over market cycles. The firm’s investment solutions span U.S., global and international equities and fixed income – and are offered in various vehicles spanning mutual funds, SMAs, LPs, CITs and actively managed ETFs.

About Natixis Investment Managers
Natixis Investment Managers’ multi-affiliate approach connects clients to the independent thinking and focused expertise of more than 15 active managers. Ranked among the world’s largest asset managers1 with more than $1.5 trillion assets under management2 (€1.3 trillion), Natixis Investment Managers specializes in high-conviction active investment strategies, insurance and pension solutions, and private assets, and delivers a diverse offering across asset classes, styles, and vehicles. The firm partners with clients in order to understand their unique needs and provide insights and investment solutions tailored to their long-term goals.

Headquartered in Paris and Boston, Natixis Investment Managers is part of Groupe BPCE, the second-largest banking group in France through the Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne retail networks. Natixis Investment Managers’ affiliated investment management firms include AEW; DNCA Investments;3 Flexstone Partners; Gateway Investment Advisers; Harris | Oakmark; Investors Mutual Limited; Loomis, Sayles & Company; Mirova; Naxicap Partners; Ossiam; Ostrum Asset Management; Seventure Partners; Vauban Infrastructure Partners; Vaughan Nelson Investment Management; VEGA Investment Solutions and WCM Investment Management. Additionally, investment solutions are offered through Natixis Investment Managers Solutions and Natixis Advisors, LLC. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit Natixis Investment Managers’ website at im.natixis.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/natixis-investment-managers.

Natixis Investment Managers’ distribution and service groups include Natixis Distribution, LLC, a limited purpose broker-dealer and the distributor of various US registered investment companies for which advisory services are provided by affiliated firms of Natixis Investment Managers, Natixis Investment Managers International (France), and their affiliated distribution and service entities in Europe and Asia.

1 Survey respondents and publicly available data ranked by Investment & Pensions Europe/Top 500 Asset Managers 2026 ranked Natixis Investment Managers as the 21st largest asset manager in the world based on assets under management as of December 31, 2025.
2 Assets under management (AUM) of affiliated entities measured as of June 30, 2026, are $1,525.1 billion (€1,334.0 billion). AUM, as reported, may include notional assets, assets serviced, gross assets, assets of minority-owned affiliated entities and other types of nonregulatory AUM managed or serviced by firms affiliated with Natixis Investment Managers.
3 A brand of DNCA Finance.

Morningstar disclosures
©2026 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Morningstar Medalist RatingTM is the summary expression of Morningstar’s forward-looking analysis of investment strategies as offered via specific vehicles using a rating scale of Gold, Silver, Bronze, Neutral, and Negative. The Medalist Ratings indicate which investments Morningstar believes are likely to outperform a relevant index or peer group average on a risk-adjusted basis over time. Morningstar expresses the Morningstar Medalist Rating on a five-tier scale running from Gold to Negative. For actively managed funds, Morningstar assigns Gold, Silver, and Bronze ratings to vehicles expected to add value, or “positive alpha,” over the long term when compared with a relevant Morningstar Category index after accounting for fees and risk. For passive strategies, Morningstar assigns Gold, Silver, and Bronze ratings to vehicles expected to deliver alpha that exceeds the lesser of the category median net alpha, or zero, over the long term. (Morningstar defines “long term” as periods lasting at least five years.) For more detailed information about these ratings, including their methodology, please go to global.morningstar.com/managerdisclosures/.

The Morningstar Medalist Ratings are not statements of fact, nor are they credit or risk ratings. The Morningstar Medalist Rating (i) should not be used as the sole basis in evaluating an investment product, (ii) involves unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause expectations not to occur or to differ significantly from what was expected, (iii) are not guaranteed to be based on complete or accurate assumptions or models when determined algorithmically, (iv) involve the risk that the return target will not be met due to such things as unforeseen changes in management, technology, economic development, interest rate development, operating and/or material costs, competitive pressure, supervisory law, exchange rate, tax rates, exchange rate changes, and/or changes in political and social conditions, and (v) should not be considered an offer or solicitation to buy or sell the investment product. A change in the fundamental factors underlying the Morningstar Medalist Rating can mean that the rating is subsequently no longer accurate.

Understanding the risks
Investing involves risk; principal loss is possible. There is no guarantee each Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved. The Funds are actively managed and do not seek to replicate a specific index. Exchange-Traded Fund (ETFs) are subject to additional risks that do not apply to conventional mutual funds, including the risks that the market price of ETF’s shares may trade at a premium or discount to its net asset value (NAV), an active secondary trading market may not develop or be maintained, or trading may be halted by the exchange in which they trade, which may impact an ETF’s ability to sell its shares. Unlike mutual funds, ETF shares are bought and sold at market price, which may be higher or lower than their NAV, and are not individually redeemed from the fund. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns. The Fund invests primarily in larger capitalization securities, which may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges or opportunities, attain the high growth rate of successful smaller companies, or be out of favor under certain market conditions. Because the Fund is non-diversified, the performance of each holding will have a greater impact on the Fund’s total return and may make the Fund’s returns more volatile than a more diversified fund. Value stocks may fall out of favor with investors and underperform growth stocks during given periods. As the Funds are new, there is a limited operating history and there can be no assurance each fund will grow to an economically viable size, in which case it may cease operations and require investors to liquidate or transfer their investments. These and other risk considerations, such as market, sector or industry, large shareholder, and value style, are described in detail in the Fund’s prospectus.   

Before investing, carefully consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges and other expenses. For this and other information that should be read carefully, please request a prospectus and summary prospectus by calling 1-800-OAKMARK (625-6275) (mutual funds) or 1-800-458-7452 (ETFs) or visiting oakmark.com.

The Oakmark Funds are distributed by Harris Associates Securities LLC, member FINRA. Harris Associates L.P. is the investment adviser to the Oakmark Funds and ETFs. The Oakmark ETFs are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC. Harris Associates L.P. and Harris Associates Securities LLC are not affiliated with Foreside Fund Services, LLC. Harris Associates L.P. is an investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, however, such a registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. The general partnership interest in Harris Associates is owned by Harris Associates, Inc., a corporate subsidiary of Natixis Investment Managers LLC.

Natixis Distribution, LLC (Member FINRA | SIPC), is a marketing agent for the Oakmark Funds and Oakmark ETFs.

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SOURCE Harris | Oakmark

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