Bloomberg A European Central Bank (ECB) push to make it easier for the region’s chronically unprofitable banks to merge is facing opposition from some national regulators, with one top official warning it could backfire and damage the integration of the financial system. Proposals by ECB supervisory board chair Andrea Enria to give banks more freedom to source funds in one …

Bloomberg Sheila Patel, chairman of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s asset-management unit, is leaving the $1.8 trillion division after almost two decades at the firm. Patel, 51, is among the company’s most senior women and shepherded some of Goldman’s highest-profile relationships with investors around the world. She will step down from the partnership and become an advisory director in the new …

Bloomberg Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is leading a $65 million financing in Echelon Fitness, giving the bank and another investor a controlling stake in a maker of exercise machines as more people work out at home amid the pandemic. The Chattanooga, Tennessee-based company competes with Peloton Interactive Inc., Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s Mirror, Tonal, Tempo, Icon’s NordicTrack, Hydrow and other connected …

Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to sell its $10 billion private student loan book to a group including Apollo Global Management Inc. and Blackstone Group Inc., according to reports. Wells Fargo said in a statement that it had agreed to the sale, without identifying the investors or disclosing terms. Apollo and Blackstone were the purchasers, the people said, asking …

Bloomberg Poland’s central bank moved to weaken the zloty for the first time in a decade, delivering on a warning that it won’t tolerate a stronger currency as the economy tries to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. Sales by the bank helped push the zloty down by as much as 1.7% against the euro in low-volume trading, according to two …

Bloomberg It’s been a tough year by all accounts. But for Bitcoin, 2020 has been a marvelous time. The cryptocurrency almost quadrupled, surpassing $20,000 for the first time as it notched record after record. The diehards cheered it as an inflation hedge in an era of unprecedented central bank largesse. Wall Street veterans from Paul Tudor Jones to Stanley Druckenmiller …

Bloomberg Stocks rise with a the global gauge heading for records as a wave of stimulus optimism buoyed equities from Germany to Japan. The dollar slipped with Treasuries. European equities rise 1% with every industry subsector except banks and energy firms in the green. US futures climbed and the MSCI ACWI Index touched its highest level after US lawmakers backed …

Bloomberg India stocks rise for a fifth straight day, tracking broad gains in Asian peers, as a slowing pace of local coronavirus infections boosted optimism over an economic recovery. The S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.6% to 47,648.24 as of 9:57 am in Mumbai. The NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced by the same magnitude. Both indexes are set to extend record …

Bloomberg UK blue-chip stocks soared on Tuesday, leading European country indexes, in the British market’s first trading session since a Brexit deal was struck with the European Union. The FTSE 100 Index jumped 1.6%, with stocks most exposed to the British economy, like homebuilders and travel stocks, pushing the advance. EU ambassadors have given the green light to the draft …

Bloomberg Oil climbed as the UK is poised to grant regulatory approval to another Covid-19 vaccine and as the US passed its stimulus bill into law. Futures in New York are trading 1.2% higher after dipping in early trading. Britain’s drug regulator could clear the shot produced by AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford for use as early as …