Bloomberg UBS Group AG said first-quarter profit dropped 64 percent, missing analyst estimates, as market turbulence eroded earnings at the wealth-management and securities units. The shares plunged. Net income declined to 707 million Swiss francs ($741 million) from 1.98 billion francs a year earlier, the Zurich-based bank said on Tuesday. That fell short of the 735 million-franc average estimate …

  Bloomberg U.S. construction spending advanced in March to its highest level in more than eight years. Gains in home building and nonresidential construction offset a drop in government projects. Construction spending rose 0.3 percent in March after a 1 percent gain in February, the Commerce Department said on Monday. The back-to-back increases raised total spending to a seasonally adjusted …

  Berlin / Bloomberg Hugo Boss AG, the embattled German fashion retailer, reported its biggest drop in quarterly profit in at least six years and said it considers closing stores to reduce costs. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and other items declined 29 percent to 93.5 million euros ($108 million) in the first quarter, the Metzingen, Germany-based company …