A recurring theme at Gadfly is Amazon.com Inc.’s ambitions to do everything under the sun. It looks as if the company now wants to become a quasi app store similar to Apple or Google’s mobile versions. Amazon has created a single spot for people to sign up to digital subscriptions from companies including the Los Angeles Times and digital …

  Officials may not say so directly, but the US appears to consider Germany a currency manipulator. Germany’s large trade surplus, the accusation goes, comes at the expense of US companies. So, as German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble traveled to Washington on Wednesday for an International Monetary Fund meeting, he brought along an eight-page primer on the German current account …

  Bloomberg US stock futures jumped as blue chips from Caterpillar Inc. to McDonald’s Corp. reported results. Canada’s dollar led export currencies lower as a tariff on lumber reignited concern the Trump administration will pursue protectionist policies. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied, indicating the underlying index may rise to an all-time high. Caterpillar climbed more than 6 …