Bloomberg Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Britain’s largest mortgage lender, said it expects to maintain lending margins next year and reassured investors on its outlook for dividends. The bank’s net interest margin should hold steady around 2.7 percent in 2017 even as the Bank of England keeps interest rates at record-low levels, and the firm will generate enough capital to ...

  Bloomberg Nomura Holdings Inc.’s second-quarter profit jumped 31 percent, beating analysts’ estimates as a surge in trading income made up for a slump in brokerage commissions and investment banking. Net income climbed to 61.2 billion yen ($585 million) in the three months ended Sept. 30 from 46.6 billion yen a year earlier, Japan’s largest securities firm said in a ...

  NEW YORK / AP Sale or no sale, Twitter users are bound to see changes as the beleaguered communications service tries to broaden its appeal to more people and advertisers. A new owner could clean up Twitter and curb some of the nastiness that’s become synonymous with it. Or perhaps a new owner would just show more ads. Or ...

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. announced that its anticipated AirPods, a pair of wireless headphones, will no longer ship this month as planned. The AirPods were introduced in September alongside the iPhone 7, which was designed without a standard headphone jack. “We don’t believe in shipping a product before it’s ready, and we need a little more time before AirPods are ...

  NEW YORK / AP Microsoft wants to bring life to common computing experiences by adding a third dimension to widely used software such as Windows and Office. The new tools, part of a free “Creators Update” to Windows 10 early next year, promise to make it easy for people to create and share photos, drawings and other images in ...

  WASHINGTON / AP A next-generation artificial hand is letting two amputees tell the difference between a soft or firm touch — like holding a child without squeezing too tightly. It’s another step toward developing prosthetics that can feel. Implanted electrodes allowed the men to feel the same intensity of pressure in the artificial hand as they could in their ...

  ALGIERS / Reuters Algeria is preparing to speed up the diversification of its oil-reliant economy in the coming year after starting to cut state subsidies to offset a fall in energy earnings, the head of parliament’s finance committee said. In the past, the OPEC member took advantage of high prices for oil and gas, which account for 60 percent ...

  Cairo / Emirates Business The World Bank has announced, during a ceremony to celebrate the release of its 14th Doing Business Report, that Egypt moved up nine places compared to last year. The country now ranks 122, which represents a significant improvement on its previous ranking of 131. The ceremony was attended by Dr. Mohamed Khodeir, the CEO of ...

  Reuters Iran’s crude oil exports are set to decline 5 percent in November to a four-month low, a source with knowledge of its preliminary tanker schedule said, as low seasonal demand in Europe takes the edge off its post-sanctions export bonanza. Iran’s oil exports typically hit a low around October or November each year, reflecting peak refinery maintenance seasons ...

  Reuters Kuwait has begun operating its first-ever solar power plant at the Umm Gudair oil field, a landmark for the OPEC member country as it seeks to diversify its sources of energy to meet fast-rising local demand. The 30-million Kuwaiti dinar ($99 million) project, Sidrah 500, will produce 10 megawatts (MW) of electricity, half of which will be supplied ...