Bloomberg Credit Agricole SA acquired a minority stake in Italy’s Banco BPM SpA, in a deal that may spark speculation it is aiming for a full takeover. The French bank said it has built a 9.18% holding in Banco BPM. It’s not applied for authorization from regulators to increase its holding above 10%, according to a statement. Consolidation of ...

Bloomberg In most of the world, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are simply tools that allow investors to track a certain set of stocks. In Japan, they’ve been saddled with everything from propping up the market and boosting inflation, to accelerating economic growth, improving corporate governance and even encouraging gender equality. Such wide-ranging goals have led the Japanese central bank to amass ...

  Bloomberg Stocks are ending the week on a positive note, with European equities snapping two days of declines sparked by the Federal Reserve’s plan for aggressive monetary-policy tightening. The Stoxx Europe 600 index climbed more than 1%, with all industry sectors in the green and energy and basic resources leading the advance. Swedish truck maker Volvo AB declined after ...