European government bonds sold off sharply in recent days, with yields following U.S. Treasurys higher and German borrowing costs hitting their loftiest levels in two years. Expectations for rising inflation in Europe remain far behind those in the U.S., but they are rising after a jump in producer prices this month. A pickup in vaccination […]

Alibaba’s e-commerce and cloud businesses benefited last year from the pandemic. Photo: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg News Chinese regulators recently slapped a $2.8 billion fine on Alibaba. But the company actually has a larger problem: maintaining its lead over the competition. The Chinese e-commerce giant reported an operating loss of $1.2 billion for the quarter ending in […]

Updated May 13, 2021 9:10 am ET Here’s what we’re watching ahead of Thursday’s opening bell. U.S. stock futures edged up, pointing to a muted recovery on Wall Street after worries about inflation pushed the S&P 500 to its biggest three-day loss since October. Futures tied to the broad stocks gauge were up 0.2%. Contracts […]

For a company built around empowering its users to make the first move, Bumble Inc.’s BMBL -14.31% first impression hasn’t exactly been a gentle letdown. Its shares have fallen nearly 38% from where they opened on the company’s Feb. 11 initial public offering. Wednesday’s first quarter results didn’t do much to rekindle investors’ love: The […]

High demand for consumer electronics and difficulties shipping metal out of Asia have created a shortage of tin, pushing prices for the metal close to records for the first time in a decade. On the London Metal Exchange, the price of tin to be delivered in three months has soared 46% this year to $29,785 […]

The red-hot U.S. housing market is giving an extra boost to the cheapest houses, including many in historically stagnant neighborhoods that have suffered from a lack of investment. U.S. ZIP Codes where the median home cost less than $100,000 in early 2018 have had a 42% rise in prices in the three years since then, […]

Startup mortgage lender Better, whose valuation has swelled in the private markets, said Tuesday that it plans to go public by merging with a special-purpose acquisition company. Better Holdco Inc., which operates a digital platform for mortgages and related services, plans to merge with Aurora Acquisition Corp. AURC -0.71% , a SPAC sponsored by the […]

Startup mortgage lender Better plans to go public by merging with a special-purpose acquisition company, according to people familiar with the matter. Better Holdco Inc. plans to merge with Aurora Acquisition Corp. AURC -5.71% , a SPAC sponsored by investment firm Novator Capital, at valuation of roughly $7 billion pre-money, the people said. The transaction […]

European governments are acting to limit hedge funds’ participation in the market for new sovereign-bond issuance, following a surge in demand from the firms. The pushback was prompted by unusually large orders placed by hedge funds for new bonds, which can then potentially be sold—sometimes within hours—to the European Central Bank for a profit, bankers, […]

Stock-market investors might want to “stay and play” this summer rather than “sell and go away.” We’re referring to the stock market’s infamous seasonal weakness between May Day and Halloween, which gave rise decades ago to the strategy known as “Sell in May and Go Away” (also known as the “Halloween Indicator”). Since the S&P […]