Calling the turn in industrial cycles isn’t easy. It looks like investors in the beaten-down machinery sector have decided to stop trying. Wade past the impact of the trade war and its potential collateral damage, and conditions are looking up. US bellwether Caterpillar Inc sounded an optimistic note in results, as did its typically cautious Japanese industrial machinery peers, which ...

Ten years on from the financial crisis, bank balance sheets haven’t become any simpler to digest for the average investor. Finance firms are big and leveraged; regulations have just become new instruments of complexity. That might suggest a potential windfall for any brainy number-cruncher who’s bored enough to spend a year looking for inconsistencies in the industry’s accounts. London hedge ...

Elon Musk fired a bazooka in his war against Tesla Inc.’s equity market short-sellers when he announced he’s considering taking the company private. His plan would also most likely wipe out investors who bet the money-losing automaker would eventually default on its bonds. The cost to insure against Tesla failing to make good on its debt fell to an all-time ...