The curse of the rear-view mirror has struck again. The Bank of England’s stress tests of UK banks were the toughest yet, but didn’t model the impact of the Brexit negotiations or a withdrawal from the EU. Rather than bickering over whether such tests are too tough or too lenient, we should be questioning whether the process itself needs …

  DUBAI / Reuters Petrochemicals companies led Gulf stock markets higher on Thursday in response to OPEC’s first agreement on output cuts to prop up oil prices since 2008 — a deal that could allow governments to ease austerity policies slightly. Expectations for the deal had already boosted oil and Gulf bourses on Wednesday, but the agreement included bigger production …

  NEW YORK / AP More gains in Goldman Sachs and Chevron helped pull the Dow Jones industrial average to another record high even as other indexes were flat to lower in early trading on Thursday. Ford and General Motors are rising after they announced strong sales in November. Technology companies and companies that pay big dividends are trading lower. …