Bloomberg German business confidence unexpectedly improved, underpinning the Bundesbank’s prediction that economic growth strengthened at the start of the year. The Munich-based Ifo institute’s business climate index rose to 111 in February from a revised 109.9 in January. That compares with a median estimate of 109.6 in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The German economy expanded at the fastest ...

  Bloomberg The UK economy grew more than previously estimated in the final three months of 2016 but it may be the last hurrah. Gross domestic product rose 0.7 percent instead of 0.6 percent, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday. It followed growth of 0.6 percent in the previous two quarters. Trade and consumer spending provided the biggest ...

  French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen unsettled investors with her pledge to pull France out of the euro and re-denominate all French debt in newly minted francs. Polls suggest Le Pen won’t get the chance; she is expected to lose a second-round runoff. Even if polls are correct this time, that doesn’t mean the euro is safe. In fact, ...

  Unilever was all smiles when Kraft Heinz Co. abandoned its attempt to buy the U.K. consumer company for $143 billion. In an unusual joint statement, the two companies referred to their “high regard” for each other. This isn’t how bitterly contested takeover situations normally end. The Anglo-Dutch consumer giant must have wanted to end things amicably — or at ...

  Even before Donald Trump took office, the calls for boycotts began. “@Amazon we are not shopping with you until u pull all Trump merchandise,” one woman wrote on Twitter in November. Another tweeted: “I’ll NEVER buy @LLBean for my daughter EVER AGAIN. I won’t support any1 that Trump does. Change UR ethics.” These weren’t isolated incidents. For months, a ...

  Bloomberg / AP Citigroup Inc. agreed to pay a penalty of almost 70 million rand ($5.4 million) to settle a South African antitrust investigation that said it participated in an alleged cartel to manipulate the value of the rand. Citigroup will make witnesses available to help prosecute other banks that participated in price fixing and market allocation in the ...

  Bloomberg Rania Nashar was named chief executive of Samba Financial Group, becoming the first female CEO of a listed Saudi commercial bank in line with the government’s economic and social reforms. Nashar is a board member of Samba’s global markets subsidiary and a Pakistani unit, and has nearly 20 years of experience in banking. Women, banned from driving in ...

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank could consider renewing its offer of free long-term liquidity to lenders though it shouldn’t turn it into a permanent measure, a Governing Council member said. Targeted longer-term refinancing operations are “a very practical and very helpful instrument; I would be very flexible regarding that instrument in the future,” Bank of Lithuania Governor Vitas Vasiliauskas ...

  Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. fired the head of its consumer credit-card business and three other senior managers as the bank’s board examines how abusive sales practices spread through branches before spiraling into a national scandal last year. Shelley Freeman, the former Los Angeles regional president who went on to run consumer-credit solutions, was terminated, along with Arizona lead ...

  Emirates Business Saxo Bank, the online multi-asset trading and investment specialist, reports on Wednesday the financial markets have started the year strong with a rally in equities leading to a huge rotation of investors moving from bonds to equities which may bring further demand for equities in the coming weeks. However, at a presentation in Dubai, Saxo Bank’s Head ...