Bloomberg The US merchandise-trade deficit widened to a record in November as imports surged to an all-time high. The gap increased to $97.8 billion last month from a revised $83.2 billion in October, according to Commerce Department data released on Wednesday. The figure exceeded all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The data aren’t adjusted for inflation. The ...

  Bloomberg Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is in talks with a state-owned conglomerate about a potential deal involving its stake in Weibo Corp, as Beijing moves to curb the influence of China’s tech giants in the sensitive media sphere. China’s e-commerce leader is exploring options for its roughly 30% slice of the Twitter-like social media service, according to people familiar ...

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s biggest remaining pro-democracy news outlet closed after becoming the target of a national security investigation, capping a year of historic strokes by Beijing to silence dissent in the Asian financial center. Stand News announced on Wednesday on Facebook that it would immediately lay off all staff and cease operations, and take down its website and social ...

  Bloomberg Pressure is piling on President Jair Bolsonaro to provide more financial aid to Brazilian states affected by heavy rains that have left several cities underwater and thousands of people homeless. The president, who’s vacationing at a beach in the south of country, published a decree setting aside 200 million reais ($35.5 million) to rebuild highways and roads destroyed ...

  Bloomberg The two Wall Street investment-banking titans dominating this year’s dealmaking frenzy are opening up their wallets to try to keep their bankers happy — and ratcheting up pressure on rivals to follow suit. Goldman Sachs Group Inc may boost its bonus pool for investment banking by about 50%, and JPMorgan Chase & Co may reach for a 40% ...

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG appointed a new chief executive officer (CEO) for its Spanish unit amid a revamp of its operations in several European countries. Inigo Martos will replace Antonio Rodriguez-Pina in July, the bank said in an internal memo seen by Bloomberg and confirmed by a spokesman. Martos will also become head of the lender’s retail and wealth ...

  Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank (SNB) kept interest rates at a record low and stuck to its description of the franc as “highly valued” after the currency’s latest advance against the euro. Both the deposit and the policy rate were held at -0.75% as widely predicted by economists. With the global economic recovery on shaky footing due to the ...

  Bloomberg NatWest Group Plc was sued by three trading firms over manipulation of security futures, a day after the bank pleaded guilty to wire and securities fraud and agreed to pay $35 million in penalties. M&N Trading LLC, Kohl Trading LLC and Port 22 LLC claim NatWest’s spoofing of security futures from 2008 to 2014 caused them “economic injury” ...

  Bloomberg Bank of Montreal (BMO) has told its investment bankers they should go back to working from home, joining a growing list of companies vacating offices as Covid-19 cases climb. Canada’s fourth-largest bank instructed its North American investment and corporate banking division to resume remote work until the week of January 17, according to an email sent to staff ...

  Bloomberg Commerzbank AG is imposing more stringent policies for fossil-fuel clients as pressure mounts on the finance industry to stop providing capital to sectors at the heart of global warming. The German lender is giving existing clients that get at least 20 percent of revenue or power production from coal until 2025 to spell out how they’ll exit the ...