Look at two important numbers in Walmart Inc.’s earnings report on Tuesday, and you could draw different conclusions about the retailer’s momentum. Its closely watched US comparable sales rose 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier — strong growth after a third quarter that saw the best growth on this measure in eight years. That data point ...

Private-equity firms have many ways of making money, but PAG Holdings Ltd. may have found a unique model in its loan to HNA Group Co. The cash-strapped Chinese conglomerate has pledged most of its stake in a Hong Kong-listed unit in exchange for funds. The size of the advance wasn’t disclosed, but the 1.39 billion shares in Hong Kong International ...

President Donald Trump’s latest proposal to eviscerate the State Department’s budget may already be dead on arrival in Congress. It’s nonetheless a reminder of how the administration’s failure to take diplomacy seriously is undermining its own strategic goals. Barely two months after warning in its new National Security Strategy of ‘growing political, economic and military competitions,’ the White House delivered ...