President Ronald Reagan liked to tell a joke about a hopeful little boy pawing through a big pile of horse dung under his Christmas tree, saying cheerily: “With all this manure, there must be a pony in here somewhere.” Observers have a similar problem with President Trump’s Iran strategy. They keep looking for something solid, as Trump lurches back and ...

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 ...