European markets are expected to open slightly higher on Wednesday morning, as the long-awaited U.S. tax overhaul wound its way through Congress. The FTSE 100 is poised to open little changed at 7,537; while the DAX is seen up 50 points at 13,264 and the CAC 40 is set to open 15 points higher, according […]
Read moreMarkets will be watching to see if interest rates continue to climb Wednesday, as the tax bill makes its way through Congress. The stock market’s tax party took a breather Tuesday, just as Treasury yields snapped higher. While not many traders were tying the two moves, the markets will be watching those yields again Wednesday, […]
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THE calls began shortly after Yulia’s grandmother died. The undertaker offered help arranging the funeral, for 47,000 roubles ($800) in cash. She then travelled to Moscow’s Khovanskoe Cemetery, where she was offered a discount on a gravesite—150,000 roubles off—if she could bring cash within three hours and sign a receipt saying she had paid half […]
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BESIDE a serene lake in Switzerland sits a modern glass building called the Cube. Wide-leafed tobacco plants grow in the lobby. In one room machines that can “smoke” more than a dozen cigarettes at a time dutifully puff away, measuring the chemicals that consumers would inhale. The research centre is run by Philip Morris International […]
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AFTER staying at home one afternoon for a delivery of discounted toilet disinfectant that never came, Valentin Romanov, a Stockholm IT manager, installed a special lock on his flat’s entrance. When no one is in, deliverymen unlock the door and slip packages inside. Four months on, Mr Romanov has doubled his spending online and says […]
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A DAY before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to rescind “net neutrality” regulations designed to ensure that internet-service providers do nothing to favour some types of online content over others, Ajit Pai, its chairman, tweeted a short video reassuring Americans. “You can still post photos of cute animals,” he says in it, posing with […]
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Buoyant American attitudes on the economy look set to show up in plentiful, record-setting holiday spending this season. The CNBC All-American survey found that average holiday spending intentions will top $900 for the first time in the 12-year history of the survey, eclipsing last year’s estimate of $702 by a wide margin. The survey of […]
Read moreMain Street helped Donald Trump to a win in November, feeding on his message of less regulation, coupled with overhauls to both the tax code and the Affordable Care Act. These pillars of Trump’s campaign and his first year in office — with expectations for action on key issues like tax reform — has sent […]
Read moreU.S. homebuilding unexpectedly rose in November, with the construction of single-family housing units surging to a 10-year high, but revisions to the prior month’s data indicated the sector was continuing to struggle with supply constraints. Housing starts increased 3.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.297 million units, the Commerce Department said on […]
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