Bloomberg SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. is holding talks to buy WS Atkins Plc of the UK for 2.08 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) as Canada’s biggest engineering and construction company looks to expand its global reach with a record acquisition. The Montreal-based builder made a tentative offer of 2,080 pence a share, “a level that the board would be prepared to …

  Bloomberg The world will have a better idea by the end of this week, but probably no definitive answer, on whether the US economy’s boom in “soft” data is being reflected in the “hard” stuff. This week’s economic data include trade figures and factory orders, culminating in a payrolls report forecast to show 175,000 jobs added by US employers …

  Bloomberg Manhattan home resales climbed for the first time in a year and a half as sellers agreed to lower prices in order to seal deals before inventory and interest rates rise further. Completed purchases of previously owned homes rose 7.7 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, reversing a stretch of five consecutive periods in which …