What caused the Great Depression? Most people wou-ld probably say that the trigger was the stock market crash of 1929. From peak to trough, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost about 88 percent of its value, and the index didn’t regain that peak until the mid-1950s: There was also a housing boom and bust in the 1920s, which was probably ...

The last two major companies holding out against Japan’s plans to consolidate its bloated refinery sector are finally giving in. After almost three years of wrangling driven by Idemitsu Kosan Co’s founding family, the company will merge with Showa Shell Sekiyu KK after shareholders — including those founders, who opposed the initial version of the deal — signed off. The ...

A shoe just dropped for Masayoshi Son. Shares of Yahoo Japan Corp rose as much as 13 percent on Tuesday after SoftBank Group Corp said it will buy $2 billion worth of stock in the internet portal, or an 11 percent stake, from Altaba Inc. Investors were elated because the block sale eased concerns over a messy open-market sale that ...