Bloomberg McDonald’s Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Easterbrook has more tricks up his sleeve than serving Egg McMuffins all day. A series of upgrades at the company’s international locations — including technological advances like self-service kiosks — boosted sales in some of the restaurant’s chains biggest markets abroad and helped third-quarter results beat analysts’ expectations. While the introduction of …

  Bloomberg Bjorn Wahlroos, the chairman of Nordea Bank AB, confirmed he approached Dutch authorities about a possible merger with ABN Amro Group NV. While those talks didn’t lead to a combination of the two lenders, the Nordea chairman said a merger could have produced a “great bank,” during an interview with Finnish state broadcaster YLE. “It was in preliminary …

  Bloomberg Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has shied away from publicly backing a presidential candidate this year, saying his support could harm that person’s chances. Yet in an interview that will air on CNN’s “ Fareed Zakaria GPS,” Blankfein, asked if he personally supports and admires Democrat Hillary Clinton, said that he did. “I’m …

  Bloomberg Banks in the UK will start relocating operations out of the country by year-end, months before formal talks to leave the European Union begin, as London looks set to lose access to the EU single market, the head of the British Bankers Association said in a newspaper commentary. International banks’ “hands are quivering over the relocate button,” Anthony …

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s stock market is suffering from a post-holiday hangover. The flood of Chinese money into the city before the mainland’s National Day celebrations in early October has slowed to a trickle since traders returned from the week-long break. Investors in Shanghai spent more than $8 billion on Hong Kong shares in September, the biggest monthly inflow through …

  Bloomberg Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Australia’s third-biggest bank by market value, is cutting about 30 jobs in its institutional banking unit. The affected positions are based in New York, London and Asia, and are mostly in customer relationship roles, ANZ Bank spokesman Stephen Ries said in an emailed statement. “We continue to reshape our network by …

  While the economic arguments for freer trade are strong, many people remain skittish about proposed trade deals involving the U.S., Asia and Europe. In particular, critics are focusing on provisions of these deals that set up tribunals to rule on disputes between governments and companies. The critics charge that these Investor-State Dispute Settlement panels would have too much power …

  The U.S. Federal Reserve faces a tough task in figuring out how best to respond to a highly unusual economic recovery. As chair Janet Yellen noted in a recent speech, it could use some help from academia. So what key questions should researchers be trying to answer? Let’s start with what the Fed got right. Internal documents from 2009 …

  Voters in Washington state will be asked next month whether they want to adopt the nation’s first carbon tax — a powerful way to curb greenhouse-gas emissions. You’d think environmental groups would be doing everything they can to back that idea. You’d be wrong. THE COST OF CARBON Initiative 732 will be on the ballot on Election Day. It …

After four months of Brexit, a new chapter unfolds on Monday as British Prime Minister Theresa May meets with the first ministers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The meeting would be crucial as the leaders seek to lay out a roadmap for departure from the EU. The meeting of Joint Ministerial Committee (JME) would be the first since December …