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If a real-life “Beetle Bailey” — the Mort Walker comic strip soldier who’s a perpetual grumbler and questioner of authority in the US military — were to mutter a cynical assessment of what’s happened in the days since the killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, he might be tempted to call it “Operation Backfire.” The big shots, led by ...

In a world caught between bulls and bears, convertible bonds can please both camps. As coupon-paying securities, they provide income like a bond. But they turn into equity if an issuer’s stock rises by a set amount, so investors can taste some of the upside, too. In China, convertible bonds are by no means a compromise; they can offer mouth-watering ...

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Soliris may be the most successful rare-disease medicine in history. Its approval in multiple conditions and an annual price tag that can exceed $500,000 propelled the drug to more than $3 billion in sales last year. Now, for the first time, it looks like Alexion’s blockbuster will face serious competition. Last week, Kentucky-based Apellis Pharmaceuticals Inc. published ...

The good news is, Boeing Co. is starting to do the right things. The bad news is, it’s going to be expensive. The airplane maker said it would recommend pilots undergo flight-simulator training on its 737 Max before the embattled plane returns to service, reversing its previous stance that computer-based education would be sufficient. The Max has been grounded since ...

Australia isn’t what the world thought it was. A country that markets itself on the basis of its wide-open blue skies, azure waters and huggable wildlife is suddenly presenting a different face: Tourists in holiday towns, huddled on beaches to get away from the impending fire front; cities choked by orange smoke and falling ash; kangaroos and koalas incinerated as ...

For all the fears that central banks are out of ammunition, looser monetary policy over the past year provided a vital safety net that enabled stocks to surge and wiped out fears of recession. As 2020 unfolds, expect more easing. The year is barely a week old and already we have some indication about how things will unfold. In minutes, ...

India’s economy hasn’t been this bad in 42 years. Pulling it back from the abyss will require more honesty than imagination. The last week’s advance estimates for the financial year ending on March 31 peg the economy’s inflation-adjusted growth rate at 5%, a third year of slowdown. And even this figure could be optimistic. Consumer demand is in the doldrums ...

Samsung Electronics Co kicked off 2020 with an array of gadgets from prototype augmented-reality (AR) glasses to a new smart speaker that the company hopes will kickstart a fresh foray into the crowded smart home arena. The world’s biggest home appliance maker set out its latest Internet of Things strategy, describing it as an “Age of Experience,” at the CES ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc is accused of stealing trade secrets and improperly using Masimo Corp inventions related to health monitoring in its Apple Watch. Masimo, which develops signal processing technology for healthcare monitors, and its spinoff, Cercacor Laboratories Inc, claim in a lawsuit that Apple got secret information under the guise of a working relationship and then hired away key employees, ...

Bloomberg IRobot Corp, maker of the disc-shaped Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, said it’s working on a household helper that will have arms that could load dishes, pick up clothes, or bring food from kitchen to table. The Bedford, Massachusetts-based company won’t start selling such a product for at least five years. But prototypes of the arms exist inside its research ...