Are U.S. authorities being overzealous in their efforts to extract money from corporate miscreants? Actually, the right question might be why, despite the advent of multi-billion-dollar penalties, companies keep breaking the law. A new batch of fines — most notably the Justice Department’s $14 billion opening bid to settle the mortgage-related transgressions of Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG — has …

  Noah Smith Earlier this year, the U.S. Census Bureau delivered some good news. Finally, after years of what seemed like a sluggish and uncertain recovery, American incomes were rising strongly again. Median household income jumped by more than 5 percent in 2015, and the lion’s share of the gains went to middle-class and lower-income folks. Employment rose strongly, and …

  Beijing / AFP China’s retail sales growth slowed last month, government data showed Monday, in a worrying sign for domestic demand in the world’s second-largest economy. Retail sales in October grew 10 percent from a year earlier, missing expectations for sales to match the previous month’s pace of 10.7 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said. Other data …

  Bloomberg Vodacom Group Ltd., Africa’s biggest wireless operator by market value, reported a 4.1 percent increase in first-half sales as strong growth in its home market of South Africa offset falling customer numbers in some international businesses. Sales rose to 40.2 billion rand ($2.8 billion), while service revenue growth was 5.3 percent, led by the addition of 2.3 million …

  Bloomberg American Apparel Inc. filed for bankruptcy less than a year after ending its first stint under court protection, and agreed to sell the brand to Gildan Activewear Inc., a Canadian maker of T-shirts and underwear, for about $66 million. American Apparel filed for protection from creditors Monday, Gildan said in a statement. The Montreal-based company said it’s not …

  Emirates Business This week, Etihad Airways, the global airline partner of 15 Taste Festivals across the world, brought world-class chefs to Taste of Abu Dhabi to compete in the final ‘Taste the World’ competition. On the last day of the festival, Etihad Airways’ Chief Executive Officer, Peter Baumgartner, awarded chef André Gerrits of Dutch farm restaurant ‘t Amsterdammertje with …

  Bloomberg India raised the limits on withdrawals and exchange of old banknotes after the government’s surprise move to ban high-denomination bills on November 8 resulted in customers across the country queuing for hours to deposit the old bills. Banks have received 3 trillion rupees ($44.4 billion) in deposits in the first four days, the finance ministry said in a …

  Bloomberg Australia should follow India’s lead and scrap its biggest bank notes, UBS Group AG said. “Removing large denomination notes in Australia would be good for the economy and good for the banks,” UBS analysts led by Jonathan Mott said in a note to clients on Monday. Benefits would include reduced crime and welfare fraud, increased tax revenue and …

  Bloomberg Making money from lending remains a tough task for Japan’s biggest banks. Profit at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. probably fell about 20 percent last quarter as negative interest rates pressured loan income at home and the stronger yen dented earnings abroad, according to analysts surveyed before results due Monday. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial …

Bloomberg Australian policy makers were publicly frustrated by the currency’s stubborn strength when commodities tumbled earlier this decade. Now they’re conspicuously quiet as it fails to keep pace with resurgent resource prices. Since the end of June, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s real effective exchange rate for the Aussie has risen 4 percent, while Westpac Banking Corp.’s Australian export commodity index …