Bloomberg CVS Health Corp. and Aetna Inc. were both talking to other potential partners during early discussions that led to their $68 billion merger, according to a regulatory filing. As late as August, Aetna was in discussions with a “Party X” about a “strategic partnership, business combination or other opportunities.” The mystery company, which isn’t named in the document, told ...

Bloomberg HNA Group Co. has approached brokers about the possible sale of two office buildings in London’s Canary Wharf financial district as it seeks to shed assets and cut its debt burden, two people with knowledge of the discussions said. The Chinese conglomerate has sought advice from brokers on the value of 30 South Colonnade and 17 Columbus Courtyard with ...

Bloomberg US payroll gains slowed by more than forecast in December, wages picked up slightly and the jobless rate held at the lowest level since 2000, adding to signs of a full-employment economy. Employers added 148,000 workers, compared with the 190,000 median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, held back by a drop in retail positions, a Labor Department report ...

Bloomberg Investors are finally getting a crack at the resurgent music business. Spotify, owner of the world’s largest paid music service, plans to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange this quarter, passing up a traditional public offering for what’s called a direct listing. The debut will test whether investors are ready to buy into the music industry, which ...

For President Trump, a lot is riding on the economy in 2018. If it continues to do well, it should bolster his popularity and his claim that he understands it better than his critics. But if it slows or drops into a recession, it would weaken that claim — perhaps his strongest selling point. So, what’s the economic prognosis? First, ...

Boeing Co.’s purported bid for Embraer SA looks low. Boeing has been aggressively pursuing a takeover of the Brazilian regional jet maker, a remarkable shift for a company that dubbed a similar combination struck by Airbus SE and Bombardier Inc. in October ‘a questionable deal’ that wouldn’t force it to change its strategic path. Many details are still being sorted, ...

In the first 18 years of the new millennium, the US economy has fared much worse than it could have. If the Federal Reserve wants to improve that performance, it should consider changing the way it manages growth and inflation. Employment among people in their prime working years (ages 25 to 54) has yet to recover to where it was ...

More than three months after its federal election, Germany still has no new government. Oddly enough, this may be less of a problem for Germany, which continues to enjoy a strong economic run, than it is for the European Union. The euro zone needs reform, and that won’t happen without German leadership. Angela Merkel promised in a speech on New ...

Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s competition commissioner challenging tech giants on several fronts, has opened another: “big data.” In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, she singles out data as an important competitive advantage that should be more seriously considered in antitrust reviews and investigations. Buying the mostly groundless big data hype is, unfortunately, often the flip side of ...

To understand why China is cracking down on power use by bitcoin miners, have a look at curtailment. The practice—where producers of wind and solar power cease generation because the entire electricity system is oversupplied—has been a major problem for the country in recent years. In the northwestern provinces of Xinjiang and Gansu, as much as one-third of wind generation ...