Bloomberg Oil companies and UK retailers are the sectors most likely to come under financial stress in Europe this year, even as central bank stimulus keeps borrowing costs near historic lows, according to S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings. With the European Central Bank committing to an asset-purchase program until at least December, leveraged companies can refinance their debt …

  Bloomberg With US railroads forecast to report their first earnings growth since 2015, a stock rally that began in anticipation of the profit rebound is looking overdone. An index of major carriers has jumped more than 55 percent since sinking to a three-year low Jan. 25, more than doubling the S&P 500 Index’s return. The surge pushed railroad stock …

  BAGHDAD / AP US-backed Iraqi government troops announced on Wednesday they were in “full control” of eastern Mosul after routing IS militants from that part of the northern city, three months since the major operation started. The achievement was a “big victory,” said Iraqi Army Lt. Gen. Talib Shaghati, who commands the counter-terrorism forces, describing the success of the Iraqi …