Major U.S. banks quit climate alliance, Canada’s factory activity rises and personal finance changes in 2025: Business and investing stories for Jan. 5

Getting caught up on a week (or two) that got away? Here’s your weekly digest of the Globe’s most essential business and investing stories, with insights and analysis from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies and more.

What’s changing for personal finance in 2025

A few things are changing in 2025, and Salmaan Farooqui outlines some of the biggest personal finance changes coming in the new year – from capital gains to tax brackets. For example, the federal government’s move to raise the capital-gains inclusion rate hasn’t yet passed into law due to political turmoil in Parliament, but the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has issued guidance advising Canadians to file their taxes based on the proposed tax changes. Additionally, all five federal income tax brackets have been adjusted for 2025 to keep up with inflation – rising by 2.7 per cent for 2025, compared with an increase of 4.7 per cent for 2024. Here’s a list of more financial laws and rules coming in 2025.

Why one temporary foreign worker decided to call it quits on Canada

Over 14 months in Canada, 29-year-old Hichem Nasri held cleaning jobs at a transportation company, an oil refinery, a bank and a Canadian Tire store. Mr. Nasri, who came to Canada from Tunisia as a cleaner, said he experienced racism and financial abuse in multiple jobs as a temporary foreign worker, calling it a “hell I don’t want to ever go through again.” He spoke with reporter Vanmala Subramaniam about his experience as a temporary foreign worker in Canada and not being paid on time, poor treatment by employers, and injuries on the job. “This whole year was a waste of my time and money,” he told The Globe. “Why would I choose to be disrespected?”

For Canadian manufacturing, a rebound or just a last gasp?

Canada entered the new year standing out in a world of manufacturing gloom. The country’s manufacturing activity expanded in December at the fastest pace in nearly two years, according to the latest reading from the S&P Global Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI). In comparison, manufacturing activity in both global and U.S. levels contracted last month, according to S&P. The boost likely comes from U.S. customers hoping to stockpile inventories before the incoming Trump administration can potentially slap a 25-per-cent tariff on all imports from Canada. Jason Kirby takes a look at the numbers in the latest Decoder series.

Major U.S. banks quitting Carney-led climate alliance ahead of Trump’s return to office

Several major U.S. banks have quit a global alliance to fight climate change in the final weeks before a new Trump administration prepares to take office. Morgan Stanley has decided to withdraw from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, joining a wave of banks that recently quit the global alliance intended to to slash greenhouse-gas emissions and shift to a low-carbon economy. Bank of America Corp. Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have all exited over the past month. The banks have made the move against a backdrop of growing backlash to ESG and threats of antitrust action among Republican politicians at the federal and state levels, Jeffrey Jones reports. The climate alliance is part of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, which is co-chaired by former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor Mark Carney and founder of Bloomberg L.P. Michael R. Bloomberg.

Two years after the launch of ChatGPT, how has generative AI helped businesses?

We are more than two years into a generative AI hype cycle that started with the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT on Nov. 30, 2022. Proponents have promised many glorious benefits: efficiency gains, cost savings and supercharged productivity for individuals, companies and entire economies. But how are businesses actually using generative AI? Companies are discovering there are many, many small use cases – but specifically tasks that are generally low-hanging fruit. For example, shaving off minutes and hours from a variety of tasks in areas such as coding, customer service, human resources, law and more. Joe Castaldo spoke to some companies about what they are doing with generative AI, and the truth behind its unglamorous reality.

Opinion: Your loonie will weaken, your interest rates will climb again in 2025

Last month, chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. Federal Reserve would be “more cautious in reducing rates,” projecting higher inflation and therefore higher interest rates in 2025 than previously expected. Contributing columnist John Rapley writes that the policy announcement could have significant implications for where Canada’s economy goes this year as well. He writes: “In a world of open capital markets, where investors can move money freely around the globe at the push of a button, these policy differences can complicate the efforts of central banks to manage their own economies.” This, in line with Trump’s proposed tariffs, could cause a manner of headaches for government bonds, the Canadian dollar and interest rates during the coming year.

Get the rest of the questions from the weekly business and investing news quiz here, and prepare for the week ahead with The Globe’s investing calendar.