Bloomberg Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko, whose fertilizer company is investing more than $6 billion in potash mining, said it could take at least a decade for the potash market to work off the excess because of the past “disruptive” actions by the largest sellers. Potash prices have collapsed since 2013, when a trade pact between Russian and Belarusian producers, …

  Bloomberg Fewer Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, indicating the US job market remains healthy. Jobless claims fell by 4,000 to 262,000 in the week ended Aug. 13, the smallest level in a month, a Labor Department report showed Thursday in Washington. The median forecast of 42 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 265,000. Low …

  New York / AFP Wal-Mart Stores reported higher second-quarter earnings and lifted its profit forecast on Thursday after notching higher sales in the US. Earnings for the quarter ending July 31 were $3.8 billion, up 8.6 percent from the year-ago period. Sales were up 0.5 percent at $120.9 billion. Wal-Mart scored higher comparable sales and customer traffic in the …