Bloomberg Linde AG and Praxair Inc. won approval from the US antitrust enforcers for their $46 billion merger, paving the way for the companies’ two-year bid to create the world’s largest supplier of industrial gases. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said it approved the deal on the condition that Linde and Praxair sell assets to resolve concerns that the combination …

Bloomberg Move over Google. There’s a new urban oasis coming to the shores of Lake Ontario. A former 177-acre (72-hectare) coal power plant site will be transformed into a mixed-use community in Mississauga, a city west of Toronto that could be worth as much as C$6 billion ($4.6 billion) once complete, according to Fabio Mazzocco, president of Lakeview Community Partners …

Bloomberg Venezuela’s state-run oil company is preparing to make a $949 million bond payment that’s due October 29, according to reports. Petroleos de Venezuela SA’s (PDVSA) plan to make the coupon and partial principal repayment on the 2020 notes would mark a rare exception for Nicolas Maduro’s government, which has racked up nearly $7 billion in defaulted debt to investors. …

Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp. resumed talks with Ghana Oil Co. as the oil supermajor nears a deadline to find a local partner for the exploration of crude at an offshore field, according to people familiar with the matter. Talks between Exxon and the Accra-based gas station operator, known as Goil, for a 5 percent stake in the Deepwater Cape Three …

Bloomberg The sell-off in US stocks picked up steam as mixed corporate earnings and weak housing data fueled anxiety that rising prices will crimp economic growth. Treasuries rallied for a second day on demand for haven assets. The S&P 500 Index extended its October rout to 7 percent, with the intraday low of 2,711 set during the Oct 11 drubbing …

Bloomberg The good news: European shares are heading for their first day of gains in six sessions, partly due to a jump in luxury stocks after another stellar sales report from the owner of Gucci. The bad news: It might not last. US stocks rallied after Europe’s equities markets closed, though now futures are pointing to another day of declines …

Bloomberg After multiple turnaround plans and promises to restore growth, Deutsche Bank AG investors are no longer buying the talk. The German lender — already the worst-performing major bank stock in Europe this year — hovered near a record low on Wednesday after Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing conceded that cuts to the investment bank are having a deeper impact …

Bloomberg Barclays Plc’s Jes Staley has a stronger case to fend off the British lender’s activist shareholder as he delivers on a promise to grow its securities trading business. The unit saw fixed income, currency and commodities income substantially outperform US peers in the third quarter, rising almost 10 percent. Equity trading revenue surged by more than a third, the …

Bloomberg The European Central Bank is starting to consider whether the financial crisis changed forever the way it controls interest rates. A decade of pumping cash into the financial system put so much downward pressure on market rates that all policy makers can do is set a floor — the minus 0.4 percent they impose for holding banks’ deposits overnight. …

Bloomberg Sweden’s central bank said it may soon need to raise interest rates for the first time in seven years if the pace of growth in Scandinavia’s biggest economy continues to support inflation. The Riksbank stuck to its earlier guidance, which gave policy makers a window from December until February to deliver a 25 basis-point rate increase. The bank kept …