It has been a cold, hard winter for Italian government debt. The country has been the euro zone’s worst performer; for the first time its bonds are yielding more than their Greek equivalents with maturities longer than three years. Italy’s is the only European bond market whose yield spread has widened compared to the struggling German benchmark over the past ...

Kohl’s Corp.’s holiday season sales miss suggests even the most promising turnaround strategies won’t be enough to save department stores. Shares of Kohl’s fell as much as 9.4% in early trading last week after the company said same-store sales in the all-important November and December period declined. Kohl’s blamed the 0.2% sales drop on softness in women’s apparel, which CEO ...

Australia’s bushfires have given officials plenty of cover to do what they should be doing anyway: ramp up fiscal spending. A lot hinges on whether they can get comfortable with the idea. An area larger than Ireland has been destroyed, at least 25 people are dead, 2,000 homes have been razed, and 25 million acres of forest and bush have ...