Bloomberg Central bankers may do well to pay less attention to the bond market and their own forecasts than they do to newspaper articles. That’s the somewhat heretical finding of a new algorithm-based index being tested at Norway’s central bank in Oslo. Researchers fed 26 years of news (or 459,745 news articles) from local business daily Dagens Naringsliv into …

  Bloomberg The head of Bank of Montreal says Canada’s biggest financial institutions are actively grooming women to become chief executive officers, ending centuries of male rule at the country’s top lenders. “There are five large Canadian banks,” CEO Bill Downe said in an interview. “I think it’s inevitable.” Canada’s biggest banks have never had a female CEO, reflecting the …

  Bloomberg Pakistan is confident of managing its rising debt obligations to China as the world’s second-largest economy boosts investment in the South Asia nation by about 20 percent. Pakistan will be able to handle repayments of Chinese soft loans to the government and businesses, which are part of a more than $50 billion of projects under the so-called China-Pakistan …

  Bloomberg Sony Corp. said it will take a 112 billion yen ($1 billion) writedown in its movie business after reviewing the future profitability of its operations. The company said it would book the charge in the fiscal third quarter and is examining how that will affect its forecasts. To offset part of the loss, the company also said it …

  Bloomberg Japan posted its first trade surplus in six years in 2016 thanks to a rebound in exports late in the year and persisting low oil prices, though uncertainties over US policy and global growth are overshadowing the recovery. The 4.1 trillion yen ($35.8 billion) surplus in 2016 compared with a 2.8 trillion yen deficit in 2015, the government …

  Bloomberg The man blocking the world’s largest nuclear plant says he grew opposed to atomic energy the same way some people fall in love. Previously an advocate for nuclear power in Japan, Ryuichi Yoneyama campaigned against the restart of the facility as part of his successful gubernatorial race last year in Niigata. He attributes his political U-turn to the …

  Bloomberg US immigration restrictions introduced over the weekend are bringing the technology industry together in unified anger like never before. While the clampdown isn’t an immediate threat to businesses, emotions are running high because President Donald Trump’s executive order violates Silicon Valley’s self-image of inclusion and tolerance. More than any other industry, the tech enclave embraces the work and …

  Bloomberg Ant Financial, the financial technology company controlled by billionaire Jack Ma, stepped up its international expansion by buying US money-transfer service MoneyGram International Inc. The $880 million transaction, Ant’s second US deal, will connect MoneyGram’s network of 2.4 billion bank and mobile accounts with Ant’s customers. Ant, which was once part of Alibaba, is seeking to expand abroad …

  LONDON / AP British consumers spurred faster-than-expected economic growth in the last three months of 2016, but experts warn a slowdown may be on the way as the country’s plans to leave the European Union curtail spending and investment. The economy grew 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, according to figures released by the …

  Bloomberg A German consumer group sued Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp in a Berlin court over clauses that allow the messaging service to collect and transfer user data between the platforms. The suit is challenging the privacy terms WhatsApp changed in August, which allow for transferring some data to Facebook’s social network, VZBV said in a statement on Monday. Each consumer …