Bloomberg The US economy entered 2017 with a solid head of steam, driven by consumer spending and a pickup in business investment. President Donald Trump’s stoking of trade tensions puts that momentum at risk. Fourth-quarter figures released on Friday showed how swings in trade can have big effects: Net exports subtracted 1.7 percentage points from gross domestic product, the ...

  Bloomberg Alcon, the eye-care business that Novartis AG acquired for more than $50 billion, is now weighing on Europe’s second-largest drugmaker. After more than a year of efforts to turn around the business, the Swiss company said it was considering all options for the embattled division, including a spinoff or initial public offering. Profit from the business plummeted 31 ...

  Bloomberg Six months ago, Lyft Inc. made a big push into corporate travel, building a team of several dozen employees to pitch banks, consulting firms and other companies on its ride-hailing services. This month, more than a dozen of those employees were dismissed or reassigned, part of a change in direction for the company’s nascent sales efforts. David Baga, ...