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These days it seems that virtually every phone call is either spam or a scam — someone is trying to sell you a cheap credit card, Lasik eye surgery or land someplace you can’t find on a map. And you don’t even get the pleasure of real human interaction — the call comes from a robot, who only puts a ...

Bank of America’s investors just got more evidence that taking the slow and steady road is paying off but that there is a trade-off as well. Profit for the nation’s second-biggest lender rose 32 percent in the third quarter to 66 cents a share. That’s 4 cents better than analysts were expecting. Revenue was also slightly higher than analysts’ expectations. ...

This week’s fall in stock prices was about as unsurprising as President Trump’s explanation for the setback — “The Fed has gone crazy,” he said. Expect more of the same over the coming weeks and months, as the US economy adjusts to the withdrawal of the Federal Reserve’s post-crash monetary stimulus, and a reckless administration persists in testing investors’ nerve. ...

There was only one plausible outcome in the long, tortured saga of Sears Holdings Corp., and it has finally arrived. The retailing giant, which includes its eponymous department store and the Kmart discount chain, said it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is set to close 142 unprofitable stores near the end of the year and Eddie Lampert, the ...

Investors need a reason to invest in European initial public offerings (IPOs). All they are getting are reasons not to. Medical devices firm Convatec Group Plc – one of the star debuts of 2016 – issued a massive profit warning on Monday, just as Spain’s Cepsa pulled what would have been the biggest oil IPO in a decade. Europe’s new ...

Prepare for a crackdown on China’s overheated rental market. President Xi Jinping’s push to develop housing for lease was supposed to take the edge off soaring home prices. It hasn’t worked out that way. Rents instead have rocketed as the government’s call triggered a stampede of investment into the sector, fueling discontent among a millennial population that had already been ...

Bloomberg US stocks jumped as earnings from major banks and health-care firms bolstered confidence in the economy. The dollar fell as geopolitical tensions appeared to ease. The S&P 500 rallied after the index couldn’t make a clean break of the key 200-day moving average. A rebounding tech sector led gains. Strong third-quarter results from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan ...

Bloomberg Luxury stocks declined on Tuesday as concerns mounted over a downturn in consumer sentiment in China, extending a sell-off that has seen global luxury companies lose about $160 billion in combined market value this month. The tumble continued after Italian menswear maker Ermenegildo Zegna Group said that Chinese consumers had become more careful in spending in the past few ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank’s bid to wean itself away from ultra-loose monetary policy may be challenged by an unlikely development: the creation of a new overnight borrowing rate. Ester, which the ECB will publish by October next year, will eventually replace Eonia as the risk-free rate. However, unlike Eonia that is still anchored by the deposit facility, the Ester ...

Bloomberg The fastest wage growth in almost a decade is a sign that inflation pressures are building, but the Bank of England may not act until it gets clarity on Brexit. Data from the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday showed average earnings excluding bonuses rose 3.1 percent in the three months through August, the most since January 2009. While ...