Reuters Egyptian real estate stocks surged on Wednesday after two big companies in the sector said they might merge, while Saudi Arabia fell sharply after US President Donald Trump threatened imminent military action in Syria. In Egypt, the stock index gained 1.4 percent as SODIC jumped 5.5 percent to a 10-year closing high and Madinet Nasr for Housing and Development …

NEW YORK / Reuters Quirks in the new US tax code are sowing doubts over how much big banks can boost dividends and stock buybacks this year, threatening to take the shine off what are likely to be strong quarterly profits. Changes in how companies can measure and apply past losses to tax bills, coupled with more extreme scenarios in …

Bloomberg Mario Draghi is finding the euro area’s eastern flank to be an unwelcome distraction. The European Central Bank president is likely to find the Governing Council missing both its Latvian and Slovenian representatives this summer, with the former barred because of a bribery investigation and the latter opting to leave his job. The ECB is questioning Latvia’s restrictions on …