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Rolled coils of steel sit in the yard at the ArcelorMittal Dofasco steel plant in Hamilton, Ont., on Thursday.Nick Iwanyshyn/The Canadian Press
Getting caught up on a week that got away? Here’s your weekly digest of The Globe’s most essential business and investing stories, with insights and analysis on the biggest headlines, stock tips, personal finance strategies and more.
Ottawa fires back after rejecting U.S. trade deal
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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during the 2026 Liberal National Convention in Montreal, Canada, on April 11, 2026.ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP/Getty Images
A tentative trade deal between Canada and the U.S. collapsed less than an hour before a late Friday deadline, triggering the imposition of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest round of 50-per cent-tariffs on US$28-billion of Canadian exports, a vow of “dollar-for-dollar” retaliation by Prime Minister Mark Carney and an abrupt escalation in the continental trade war.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Carney had reached a deal earlier in the week, causing the President to put his new tariffs on hold until 12:01 a.m. Saturday while the two sides finalized details. But Mr. Carney said the U.S. tried to change the deal, so he broke off the talks and recalled Canadian negotiators.
“Last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic and called into question the reliability of any deal,” the Prime Minister said in a statement. On Mr. Trump’s new levies, he added, “Canada will match those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses.”
Canadian financial institutions restrict employees’ use of prediction markets
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The new rules and policy clarifications for employees follow similar measures by financial institutions in the U.S.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Financial institutions – such as Royal Bank of Canada RY-T, Bank of Nova Scotia BNS-T, Toronto-Dominion Bank TD-N, National Bank NA-T and Manulife MFC-T – have all enacted new prediction market betting rules for their employees in response to the arrival of the platforms in Canada.
The advent of prediction markets, which allow users to wager on events such as Bank of Canada interest rate decisions or corporate earnings metrics, is creating new ways for people to gamble on various data points that public companies routinely disclose. But personal trading policies dictate how employees at financial institutions can trade securities in their personal investment accounts.
RBC said employees who are subject to its personal trading policies are barred from placing bets on prediction markets, while Scotiabank said its personal trading policy prohibits employees from speculating on financial markets, indexes or companies. National Bank said it has a personal trading restriction covering prediction markets for employees in its capital markets division, and TD Bank said it issued a reminder to employees earlier this year, reinforcing how their confidentiality and code of conduct requirements apply to prediction markets.
RBC bets on growth in Europe as businesses diversify trade
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Derek Neldner, head of capital markets at RBC, said Britain and Europe are among the bank’s biggest growth opportunities in capital markets.Galit Rodan/The Globe and Mail
As trade uncertainty and geopolitical volatility whipsaw markets, the capital-markets unit of Royal Bank of Canada is boosting hiring, expanding its products and services and pushing into sectors in Britain and Europe, where it believes it can grow its business. It’s part of the bank’s bid to break out from its position as the 13th-largest capital-markets business globally and crack the top ten list, which is dominated by U.S. banks.
Derek Neldner, RBC’s head of capital markets, said Britain and Europe are among the bank’s biggest growth opportunities in capital markets. The region is making up a bigger portion of RBC’s capital-markets revenue. In 2025, Britain and Europe accounted for 18 per cent of the unit’s total revenue, climbing 33 per cent to $2.5-billion from the year prior – outpacing growth in Canada, the U.S. and the Asia-Pacific. Mr. Nelder said he expects the business in the region to contribute as much as 20 per cent of the unit’s revenue in the coming years.
Canada’s largest lender also announced this week that it has hired former Ontario minister Caroline Mulroney as vice-chair, tasking her with deepening the lender’s relationships with clients and business leaders globally.
Canadian travel boycott of U.S. may be bottoming out
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Transport trucks cross the Ambassador Bridge into the United States of America, Tuesday, July 21, 2026.Dax Melmer/The Globe and Mail
After more than a year of fractured trade relations that sparked nationwide movements to boycott travel to the United States, Canadians increased their trips south of the border this summer – but not by much.
In June, Canadian residents returned from 2.3 million trips to the U.S., marking a 5 per cent year-over-year increase, Statistics Canada said on Thursday. The number of trips increased for the third month in a row after 15 consecutive months of year-over-year declines, although volumes remained well below pre-tension norms. There were nearly 25 per cent fewer trips this June than in June, 2024.
Trips by car drove this June’s increase, rising 7.6 per cent compared to June, 2025, with two-thirds of those being same-day trips. At the same time, travel to the U.S. by plane continued to decline, down 1 per cent over the year with around 545,000 return trips made in June.
Newfoundland looks to take advantage of interest in its offshore oil
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The Flotel Endurance, an offshore accommodations and construction support unit, prepares to deploy to the West White Rose offshore oil field in the Jeanne d’Arc Basin in July, 2025.Greg Locke/The Globe and Mail
Three years after Equinor ASA paused the Bay du Nord oil project – planned for the deep, cold waters off the east coast of Newfoundland – the potential development seems closer to becoming a reality.
The Norway-based company put the project on ice in May, 2023, citing unfavourable economics and skyrocketing costs. But Equinor’s St. John’s office spent months recalibrating and redesigning the proposal to make it more palatable to the company’s board and shareholders. It would be Canada’s first deepwater oil development. A final investment decision from the energy company is slated for early 2027.
Industry groups, politicians and even nearby Nova Scotia see the Bay du Nord project as a harbinger of a future in which Atlantic Canada can fully tap into its energy ambitions.
Energy reporter Emma Graney travelled to St. John’s and Halifax to find out what’s happening on the ground – or, more accurately, below the depths of the oceans.
Prepare for the week ahead with The Globe’s investing calendar.