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  Bloomberg Wall Street is betting Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. will soon revive talks on a blockbuster merger, but a recent surge in demand for wireless assets has Sprint exploring other ways to unleash value. Sprint’s parent SoftBank Group Corp. believes the company’s vast trove of wireless spectrum, which can be used for faster 5G services, has been ...

  Bloomberg Royal Philips NV said a strong order book and resilient performance in markets including China and India would allow the Dutch health-care equipment provider meet sales targets, even as uncertainty surrounding US policy led hospitals there to delay spending. The company reiterated a full-year revenue growth target of between 4 percent and 6 percent for its health technology ...

  Bloomberg Akzo Nobel NV said it would consider PPG Industries Inc.’s new unsolicited 26.9 billion euros ($28.8 billion) takeover bid, which the US rival extended with “one last invitation” for Europe’s largest coatings company to negotiate a deal. Akzo Nobel will “carefully review and consider” the proposal, the Amsterdam-based company said in a statement on Monday. PPG earlier offered ...

  Bloomberg SLM Solutions AG has hired Lazard Ltd. to help it explore strategic options six months after General Electric Co. withdrew a 680 million-euro ($737 million) offer for the 3-D printing company, according to people familiar with the matter. The review could lead to the sale of a stake in the Luebeck, Germany-based company or even a complete takeover, ...

  The last thing President Trump now needs is for the stock market to go south on him. After all, he’s got worries aplenty: abroad, North Korea, Syria, Russia and Brexit; at home, the stalled effort to repeal Obamacare; and uncertainty surrounding “tax reform.” Compared with this tapestry of troubles, the stock market has been a splendid blessing. It’s called ...

  Activist investors, Japan’s the next place to go. Yes, you heard right. In the past two weeks, Hong Kong-based Oasis Management Co. has managed to score victories against two of the country’s oldest and biggest companies. The hedge fund got Panasonic Corp. to up its offer for a unit the electronics maker is seeking to take private, while also ...

  The euro-zone economy is looking a lot healthier. After years of stagnation, growth has finally picked up and unemployment is falling. Fears of a paralyzing bout of deflation have receded as well. Yet there’s a risk of relapse — and Europe’s banking ‘doom loop’ is the reason. Close links between government finances and the banking system were a main ...

  France voted on Sunday in the first round of presidential election which has overturned the country’s traditional politics. The poll took place amid high security, with 50,000 police officers deployed throughout the country. France declared a state of emergency in 2015 following deadly terrorist attacks. It’s not the security concern that makes this year’s election so different from other ...

  One of the scariest questions in economics is whether human labor will someday be made obsolete by machines. Consultants and academics put out reports telling you how likely you are to lose your job to a robot. Economists argue back and forth about whether it’s possible for humanity to go the way of the horse. Technology industry leaders boldly ...

  It’s been nearly 10 years since the Great Recession zapped consumers’ jobs, 401(k)s and spending, sending retailers into a tailspin and megastores like Circuit City and Linens ‘n Things out of business. For retailers, the mantra became “only the strong will survive.” But here we are, a decade later, and another wave of retailers from The Sports Authority to ...