Bloomberg Once again, the pound’s fortunes lie with the Bank of England. Traders will scrutinise the central bank’s policy decision on Thursday for any signs that an interest-rate hike this year is still in the cards. A lot of bad news has already been baked into the UK currency and a “relatively hawkish hold” from the BOE could push it ...

Bloomberg German factory orders unexpectedly dropped in March and February was revised lower, confirming a weak start to the year in Europe’s largest economy and raising concern over the strength of the euro-area growth. Orders slid 0.9 percent, compared with a median estimate for a 0.5 percent increase in a Bloomberg survey. With February’s figure revised to minus 0.2 percent ...

Bloomberg Warren Buffett boosting his stake in Apple Inc. has pundits predicting it is poised to hit $1 trillion in market value. But the iPhone maker isn’t the first to tread that lofty path. PetroChina Co. crossed the milestone back in November 2007, when its mainland shares almost tripled in value in their Shanghai trading debut. But the state-controlled energy ...

Bloomberg Angelo Gordon & Co. has raised $843 million for its second Europe-focussed real estate fund, surpassing its $750 million target. AG Europe Realty Fund II will seek out complex, off-market opportunities in the UK and elsewhere in Western Europe, regions that are “still experiencing substantial levels of distress and dislocation,” said Anuj Mittal, co-portfolio manager of European real estate ...

Bloomberg A plan to replace the chief executive officer of Xerox Corp. and several directors fell apart over a technicality, setting the stage for a proxy fight in which activist shareholders will seek to improve the terms of a deal to cede control of the iconic US printer company to Japan’s Fujifilm Holdings Corp., or scrap it entirely. In a ...

From Scotland, where Adam Smith pioneered systematic thinking about economics, comes an adjective, ‘carnaptious,’ that fits people who are allergic to economic euphoria. It means cantankerous. Let’s think carnaptiously about this fact: The interest rate on 10-year Treasury bonds recently rose briefly to 3 percent, and soon may move above this. This is more than evidence of the economy’s strength. ...

The UK has bowed to public concern over illicit money flowing through offshore tax havens. Territories such as the British Virgin Islands will have to publish open registers of company ownership by 2020. It’s a welcome step, considering the UK’s historical hands-off approach, but transparency must be followed by accountability to produce long-lasting change. First, the good news: an open ...

Wayfair Inc.’s latest earnings results show just how much of a disruptor it’s been in the home-furnishings industry. The company reported that its retail net revenue was $1.4 billion, a 48 percent increase over a year earlier. It notched 11.8 million active customers in the quarter, a 33 percent increase over last year. It is a veritable market-share-grabbing machine, and ...

Inconsequential tariffs don’t cause trade wars; the US bankrupting China’s technology companies just might. Trade rhetoric between the countries will likely escalate, but the potential bankruptcy of ZTE Corp. after the US banned exports to the company last month could turn out to be the shot that triggers the war. China would likely respond with a strong reprisal against US ...

I have great respect for Apple, but I refuse to buy its $1,000 phones. Instead, I use a $250 Android device with a long battery life. In the emerging big data-based economy, however, that could cost me in ways I can’t even predict. A recent paper by Tobias Berg of the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management in Germany and ...