It’s become a favorite holiday tradition around these parts: wait for the National Retail Federation annual holiday spending forecast each October, then write a few choice words about why their methodology is awful and their forecast track record is even worse. I overlooked the Federation’s Oct. 3 forecast this year, as the 2016 presidential election obscured everything else. That ...

  With US President-elect Donald Trump vowing on Tuesday to scrap the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the deal’s future hangs in the balance. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pointed out that TPP without the US would be “meaningless”. The US and Japan are the core members of TPP that encompasses 40% of the global economy. Trump’s announcement to abandon TPP ...

  The UK government’s decision to allocate 369 million pounds ($460 million) to fund a 10-year refurbishment of Buckingham Palace should be welcomed. Unfortunately, the British public’s complicated relationship with both the Royal Family’s finances and the nation’s landmark buildings means there’s a storm of protest instead. And that in turn leaves another of the country’s iconic buildings in jeopardy. ...

  In the early days of the current economic expansion, Texas led the way. That stopped being true a couple of years ago; according to state jobs data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, California has added the most payroll jobs (2.4 million) since employment bottomed out nationally in February 2010; Utah is the leader on a percentage ...

  Leonid Bershidsky While it’s unclear how well Russian President Vladimir Putin will get along with Donald Trump and his team of Republican hawks, it looks as though he has already won the French presidential election. The front-runner in the primary vote of the French center-right, Francois Fillon, is nearly as enthusiastic a Russophile as Marine Le Pen, leader of ...

  Taipei / AFP Taiwan’s troubled TransAsia Airways said on Tuesday it would close down after two deadly plane crashes, massive financial losses and an insider trading probe. Board members reached the decision at a hastily called meeting, with all flights immediately axed. Chief executive officer Liu Tung-ming bowed in a sign of contrition as he told reporters of the ...

  Bloomberg Air Berlin Plc is seeking a much-needed cash injection from investor Etihad Airways as the Gulf carrier draws up plans to buy a stake in the German company’s Austrian leisure arm Niki, which is being spun off and merged with a peer, people familiar with the plan said. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad will take a holding in Niki as ...

  Bloomberg South Africa hired Bain & Co. to advise on the strategy and corporate structure of the country’s three loss-making state-run airlines to improve the benefit to the state from owning the carriers. Bain, based in Boston, was awarded the contract as part of a joint venture with a South African company, Abacus Advisory, according to a posting on ...

  DUBAI / Reuters Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is evaluating an order for wide-body Airbus and Boeing jets as it looks to upgrade its ageing fleet, an executive for the state-owned airline said on Tuesday. “Boeing 777X would be a good option,” the airline’s executive director of human resources and works, Raheel Ahmed, told reporters on the sidelines of an ...

  Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG canceled 64 flights at its Eurowings division due to a strike by cabin crew as the German carrier braces for more severe disruption on Wednesday when its mainline pilots plan to walk out. On Tuesday, Eurowings flights to and from Dusseldorf and Hamburg were canceled due to strikes called by the flights attendants’ union Ver.di, ...