Bloomberg As J.C. Penney Co. discounts more merchandise to clear the shelves of slow-moving inventory, investors are hopeful the painful overhaul is nearing its end. The department-store chain, which has been aggressively trying to get the right mix of merchandise in stores, reported a sales contraction in its latest quarter. It also withdrew its prior 2018 earnings guidance, replacing a …

Bloomberg Canada Goose Holdings Inc. wants its customers to know what real cold feels like—from the comfort of a $1,000 parka. The company is adding frigid rooms to some of its stores where shoppers can test the luxury coats in temperatures as low as -25 degrees Celsius. A Montreal location is the fifth to include the fancy freezer, and Beijing …

Bloomberg The maker of Oreo cookies has become the latest target by Greenpeace in its campaign to stop the destruction of rainforests for palm oil. The environmental group accused palm oil suppliers to snack giant Mondelez International Inc., which makes the famous black and white cookie as well as Cadbury chocolate bars, of deforestation and destroying orangutan habitats in Indonesia. …

Bloomberg In an industrial park outside Cologne, German grocer Rewe Group is fighting back against Amazon.com Inc. with what it describes as the most technologically sophisticated online-shopping facility in Europe. The closely held retailer’s building, the size of 2 1/2 soccer fields, holds 20,000 items from drinks to diapers, twice as many as a typical supermarket. Products are stored in …

Bloomberg Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries Ltd is considering a plan to boost its oil-refining capacity by about half, people with knowledge of the matter said. The proposed plant, to come up at the world’s biggest refining complex in Jamnagar, will be able to process as much as 30 million tonnes of crude a year, the people said asking not …

Bloomberg BGC Partners Inc is entering the shipbroking market for the first time, buying Poten and Partners Group Inc to bet on demand for liquefied natural gas. Poten, which is based in New York, specializes in the LNG tanker and liquid petroleum gas markets, with 170 staff in offices from London to Singapore, Houston, Athens, Guangzhou and Perth. BGC didn’t …

Bloomberg In the middle of UBS Group AG’s six-week tax trial in Paris, Presiding Judge Christine Mee’s tone changed. And that may have given a sign of what the bank can expect in a case that could cost it as much as $6 billion. The hearings, which have ended, started well for the Zurich-based bank. A team of 20 high-powered …

Bloomberg Nordea Bank Abp just dropped off the list of global banks deemed too big to fail, but that doesn’t mean it can hold less regulatory capital. The Financial Stability Board removed Nordea from a group it defines as global systemically important banks (G-SIB). A G-SIB needs to have more capital than other banks, so the assumption is that no …

Bloomberg Poland’s finance minister and central bank chief pledged to provide liquidity for two lenders at the center of a corruption scandal as investors again sold battered bank stocks. “We are ready to guarantee that these banks have and will maintain liquidity,” Governor Adam Glapinski said on Monday. “Their clients are safe.” He spoke after the country’s Financial Stability Committee …

Bloomberg Argentina’s central bank may eliminate the floor on its benchmark interest rate in early December if it sees a second consecutive decline in inflation expectations, according to two people with direct knowledge of the plan. The decision to eliminate the 60 percent floor may come as early as December 3, said the two people. Policy makers want to see …