Bloomberg US new-home construction rose by more than forecast in March on a rebound in multifamily starts, giving a boost to first-quarter economic growth, government figures showed on Tuesday. The results show a tight job market, improved finances and consumers’ elevated confidence to purchase big-ticket items are supporting construction. That means homebuilding probably contributed to economic growth for the second ...

Reuters UnitedHealth Group Inc on Tuesday posted a quarterly profit that beat Wall Street estimates, fuelled by growth in its core insurance and health-services businesses and raised its earnings forecast for the year. Shares of UnitedHealth rose 1.3 percent to $233.25 in premarket trading. The largest US health insurer has been adding more physicians through a series of acquisitions, helping ...

Reuters Johnson & Johnson reported a better-than-expected first-quarter profit on Tuesday and raised its full-year sales forecast, helped by growing demand for its cancer drugs. J&J’s pharmaceuticals sales rose 19.4 percent to $9.84 billion, driven by sales of its cancer drugs such as Darzalex, Imbruvica and Zytiga that rose 45 percent to $2.31 billion in the quarter. J&J raised its ...

Bloomberg European Central Bank officials are starting to consider a topic President Mario Draghi dismissed as a “high-class problem” — whether to let the economy run hot. Even with recent signs of a slowdown, the euro-zone economy is growing faster than its long-term trend. Allowing that boom to continue even at the cost of higher inflation is arguably one way ...

Bloomberg Adopting the euro would offer “numerous and lasting” benefits for Croatia’s economy, central bank governor Boris Vujcic told Reuters, although he declined to indicate when it might enter the single currency’s ERM-2 “waiting room”. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said in October that he wanted the newest European Union member to start using the euro within seven or eight years. ...

Bloomberg Barclays Plc has been gauging clients’ interest in the British bank starting a cryptocurrency trading desk, potentially joining Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in pioneering a new business on Wall Street, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Barclays has so far only done a preliminary assessment of demand and feasibility, said the people, who asked not to be ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG has called off talks to sell its retail and private wealth businesses in India to IndusInd Bank Ltd., people with knowledge of the matter said. The German lender is considering keeping the operations after former Chief Executive Officer John Cryan stepped down this month, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is ...

TOKYO / Reuters The Bank of Japan will likely maintain its view inflation will reach its 2 percent target next fiscal year and project it will stay near that level the following year, in new forecasts due out next week, sources familiar with its thinking said. But the central bank will reassure markets it is nowhere near an exit from ...

Bloomberg The franc is within striking distance of what was once one of the most heavily defended boundaries in global markets. Having touched a three-year low of 1.19 per euro on Tuesday, the franc is now less than a centime away of the 1.20 mark at which the Swiss National Bank had its minimum exchange rate until early 2015 — ...

Bloomberg Ikea Group, the world’s largest furniture retailer, is getting ready for a future where people have little to spare: both in their wallets and in terms of space. The Swedish furniture giant is now abandoning its custom of planning five to 10 years ahead, setting a new three-year approach to keep pace with a rapidly transforming society. The strategy ...