Bloomberg Euro-area economic confidence jumped to the highest in almost a decade this month, a testament to a continued improvement that may soon prompt a policy shift at the European Central Bank. The index of executive and consumer sentiment surged to 109.6 in April from a revised 108 in March, the European Commission in Brussels said on Thursday. That’s …

  Bloomberg US coal has become entangled in a trade war between the US and Canada over lumber. British Columbia Premier Christy Clark urged Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in an open letter to ban US coal shipments from the country’s westernmost province in retaliation for the Trump administration’s new tariffs on softwood lumber. The move sent Canadian export terminal …

  Bloomberg Amgen Inc.’s new cholesterol drug is still struggling to gain traction, missing analysts’ estimates at a time when the biotechnology giant is anxious for its newer drugs to make up for slowing sales of its older ones. Sales of the drug, called Repatha, in the first quarter were $49 million, the company said in a statement. That was …