Business leaders react to Carney victory, Stellantis and GM temporarily lay off auto workers and the tough job market for new graduates: Business and investing stories for the week of May 4

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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 from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies and more.

Business leaders see Liberal victory as a window of economic opportunity

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Mark Carney led the Liberals to election victory this week, giving the party its fourth consecutive term since 2015. There’s no shortage of challenges for the new prime minister, but the main task ahead is to tackle U.S. President Donald Trump’s’s trade war. Canada’s business leaders and top executives see a window of opportunity for Mr. Carney to push through big changes for Canada’s economy while voters are united on the need to bring a strong hand to negotiations with Mr. Trump – but they want to see results quickly. It’s a long cry from just a few months ago when the country’s business leadership had all but given up on the Liberals. During his first public address since winning the election, Mr. Carney said he will travel to Washington to meet Mr. Trump at the White House on Tuesday.

GM and Stellantis make changes at Windsor, Ont. plants, citing Trump tariffs

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A growing number of businesses are starting to make significant changes in order to avoid crushing U.S. tariffs. Some are rerouting U.S.-bound shipments from China to Canada and storing goods in Canadian warehouses – a move that, experts says, risks flooding the Canadian market and raising competition for already scarce warehouse storage. Automakers in Canada are also an early sign of how Trump’s trade policies will upend the North American industry. Stellantis plans to shift some vehicle production and revamp its parts supply lines to avoid paying U.S. tariffs. The company also announced that the Stellantis NV auto assembly plant in Windsor, Ont., will close for a week beginning on May 5, putting 3,800 workers on temporary layoff. General Motors Co. also said this week it will cut one of three shifts at its pickup-truck plant in Oshawa, Ont., by the fall.

Decoder: The job market for new Canadian graduates is brutal – and could get even worse

New Canadian graduates are being confronted with a harsh reality: This is the worst job market for graduates in decades. The average unemployment rate for recent grads in the first quarter of 2025 was 11.2 per cent, according to an analysis of Statistics Canada data from Brendon Bernard, senior economist at job-search site Indeed Canada. That’s the highest jobless rate to start the year in at least two decades, excluding the pandemic. Matt Lundy takes a closer look at the numbers in this week’s Decoder series.

Soaring claims for weight-loss drugs raise concerns about private insurance plans

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A Telus Health drug report published this week said patient claims submitted to insurers soared last year following the introduction of weight-loss drug Wegovy in Canada. The total claims paid out by Canadian insurers for weight management drugs nearly doubled, climbing to $77-million in 2024 from nearly $38-million a year prior. The growing popularity of these drugs poses a problem for private benefit plans, which are funded by employers and have a direct impact on companies’ bottom line, Clare O’Hara reports. “The stakes are high for employee health and the long-term sustainability of private drug plans,” said benefits industry veteran Paul Sabat. He said if coverage continues to expand, so will the strain on benefit plans.

What the Liberals’ election win means for your personal finances

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Prime Minister Mark Carney will have his work cut out for him as Canadians face the financial impact of the trade war and ongoing cost-of-living concerns. Meera Raman and Mariya Postelnyak share a breakdown of the major personal finance promises the party made during the election campaign (from retirement to child care to cost of living), and how they could impact your bank accounts.

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