Bloomberg SunPower Corp. is willing to sell about $1.4 billion in long-term solar leases to raise $200 million now. The 45,000 contracts stretch out for as long as two decades, generating monthly payments from customers that altogether installed 400 megawatts of rooftop panels. SunPower took a non-cash charge of $474 million in the fourth quarter as a result, the San …

Bloomberg Oil posted its first weekly increase since last month as rebounding equity markets eased concern about economic growth and a weakening dollar boosted the allure of commodities priced in the US currency. Futures in New York rose 0.6 percent and gained 4.2 percent this week. The greenback touched a three-year low earlier in the day before edging higher, though …

Bloomberg Don’t worry: Technology may come and go, but some things never change. In the not-so-distant future, cars will drive themselves and men may become obsolete (sorry, guys), but home will always be home. It’ll just be a heck of a lot smarter. Granted, some tech is better than other tech. No one needs a Wi-Fi-connected juice press that doesn’t …

Bloomberg Apple Inc.’s HomePod, the company’s first foray into speakers in a decade, costs $216 to build and generates thinner profit margins than other products like the Apple Watch and iPhone, according to analysis by TechInsights. Given the HomePod’s $349 price, that $216 cost suggests Apple is generating margins of about 38 percent, according to the product analysis firm. That …

Bloomberg Mercedes-AMG GmbH debuted its latest collaboration with Cigarette Racing, the 515 Project One. The $2 million superboat has 3,100 total horsepower and can hit a top speed of 140 miles per hour. The look and colour scheme of the boat is based on the Mercedes-AMG Project One hybrid supercar developed from Formula 1; it’s the fastest, most advanced boat …

Bloomberg In many ways, China’s Lunar New Year holiday is America’s Thanksgiving, Christmas and Independence Day all rolled into one. Millions of Chinese take planes and trains to make the journey home (or abroad) to visit family and friends. Copious amounts of food are shared and gifts are exchanged as people ring in the first days of the moon’s new …

Bloomberg Credit Agricole SA is seeking to sell about 6 billion euros ($7.5 billion) of Italian non-performing loans bought from other institutions a decade or more ago, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The French bank is trying to offload its holdings in four different bad-loan securitizations, along with the Luxembourg-based entity that issued them, said the people, …

Bloomberg US Bancorp agreed to pay about $600 million to settle US allegations that it failed to guard against money laundering, under a deal announced in New York. Prosecutors said the Minneapolis-based bank failed to report suspicious activities of a longtime customer, Scott Tucker, who was using the bank to launder proceeds of a fraudulent payday lending scam. Tucker was …

Bloomberg The world’s central bankers are learning that there’s virtually no room for error as they try to find a way out of a decade of extreme monetary stimulus. That’s the message from Norway’s central bank governor, Oystein Olsen, who also oversees the country’s $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund. “Unexpected things can happen, and the warning, call it a small …

Bloomberg European Central Bank policy maker Benoit Coeure signalled that officials are close to starting talks on altering their policy language as they prepare for the eventual end of bond purchases. “Our communication on monetary policy will change” Coeure told reporters on in Skopje, Macedonia. “Certainly the expectation is that this will be discussed in early 2018.” The ECB is …