Next week, the nation’s retailers — and, more to the point, the people who want to sell things to the nation’s retailers — will gather at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on the western edge of Manhattan for the National Retail Federation’s “Big Show.” On the advice of a reader of the column I wrote in early December ...

  DUBAI / Reuters A slide in banking shares after earnings at a major bank missed analysts’ estimates dragged down Saudi Arabia’s stock market on Monday, while markets in the rest of the region were mixed. Riyad Bank, the first major Saudi bank to report fourth-quarter earnings, posted a 66 percent fall in net profit to 293 million riyals ($78 ...

  Bloomberg Emerging-market assets declined as concern grew that threats to global trade and growth are proliferating. Mozambique’s international bond tumbled after the nation said it won’t make an interest payment on January 18. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index dropped the most in more than three weeks and a gauge of currencies slipped for the first time in three days. ...

  Bloomberg OPEC probably won’t need to extend a deal it reached with other crude producers to cut output, given the level of their compliance with the reductions and the outlook for an increase in global demand, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said. The re-balancing of the oil market should take place by the end of the first half of ...

  Bloomberg In an economic crisis that has led to a shortage of medicines, Egyptians are skipping trips to drug stores and instead turning to herbal remedies to treat every-day illnesses. In the Cairo working class neighbourhood of Basateen, dozens can be seen lining up outside a decades-old herbal spice shop with pyramid-shaped stacks of jars on display, filled with ...

  Bloomberg Potential delays looming over three major US natural gas pipeline projects are threatening to sour a popular wager on the fuel. Gas for delivery in April 2018 is trading at a steep discount to the March contract, signaling that traders anticipate ample supplies at the end of next winter. The spread, known as the “widow maker” for its ...

  Bloomberg Generating power in the UK by harnessing the ebb and flow of tidal lagoons may be significantly cheaper than building new nuclear electricity plants or offshore wind farms, according to a government-backed review. Tidal lagoons, such as the 1.3 billion-pound ($1.6 billion) pilot project planned in Swansea Bay off the coast of South Wales, would likely cost “well-below” ...

  Bloomberg India’s richest man isn’t done yet. After plowing $25 billion into starting a national fourth-generation mobile network, billionaire Mukesh Ambani is spending more to boost coverage amid complaints from its largest rival that his free services are hurting competition. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., a closely held unit of Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd., plans to raise 300 billion rupees ...

  Bloomberg Iron ore has carried last year’s bullish momentum into the start of 2017, with prices rallying to a two-year high amid speculation that China’s demand for overseas ore will hold up even as the world’s largest miners bring on new capacity. Ore with 62 percent content in Qingdao in China climbed 3.9 percent to $83.65 a dry metric ...

  Bloomberg Dalian Wanda Group Co.’s revenue fell for the first time in at least 11 years after a slump in its property business outweighed growth from entertainment operations at billionaire Wang Jianlin’s conglomerate. Sales, which includes property-contracted sales, declined 14 percent in 2016 from a year earlier, according to a Wanda statement, more than a January 2016 forecast of ...