published Oct 20th 2016, 6:14 pm, by Dina Bass (Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp.’s first-quarter sales and earnings topped analysts’ estimates, buoyed by growing demand for cloud-based software and services. Profit excluding certain items was 76 cents a share on adjusted sales of $22.3 billion, the Redmond, Washington-based company said in

published Oct 20th 2016, 1:47 pm, by Justin Fox (Bloomberg View) — In 1999, the unemployment rate in the U.S. was just 4.2 percent, compared with 8.6 percent in Germany and 11.3 percent in France. The labor force participation rate (the percentage of the working-age population either with jobs or

published Oct 19th 2016, 12:40 pm, by Elaine Ou (Bloomberg View) — It’s fun to imagine a world without cash. Liberated from the burden of physical currency, consumers could make purchases from the convenience of a mobile device. Every transaction would come equipped with fraud protection, reward points and a

published Oct 19th 2016, 5:01 am, by Patrick Clark (Bloomberg) — Not very long ago, it was fashionable to ask if millennials would ever crawl out of their parents’ basements and into a realtor’s office. Enthusiasm for that view, which had gained wide exposure by 2012, lost steam as mortgages

published Oct 19th 2016, 9:44 pm, by Justin Sink (Bloomberg) — Donald Trump had two choices to try to pull out of a dive in the polls during the final presidential debate: serious and sober, or classic, combative Trump. In a way, he tried both — and the contest Wednesday

published Oct 17th 2016, 2:51 pm, by Chris Strohm, Andrew Harris and Ben Brody (Bloomberg) — A State Department team responsible for determining which records should be kept secret felt “immense pressure” not to label any of about 300 e-mails found on Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server as classified, according

published Oct 11th 2016, 3:57 pm, by Steven T. Dennis (Bloomberg) — Marco Rubio is still on Team Trump, sticking with the man who humiliated him as “Little Marco” in the primaries even as other Republicans ditched his embattled campaign in droves. There may be no better example of the

published Oct 17th 2016, 5:00 pm, by Adam Minter (Bloomberg View) — Alibaba’s Jack Ma has big dreams. Having transformed Chinese retail, he’s now determined to reinvigorate globalization. The way to do so, according to his annual shareholder letter released last week, is for other countries to use or replicate

published Sep 27th 2016, 1:16 pm, by Ben Steverman and Jennifer Surane (Bloomberg) — It’s Friday, and your paycheck is missing a zero. Even if payroll owns up to it, you could be waiting until Wednesday to get your money. Your power company is threatening a penalty for an overdue

published Oct 16th 2016, 9:29 am, by Stepan Kravchenko (Bloomberg) — Russia hopes its ties with the U.S. can be restored after elections regardless of who wins, according to President Vladimir Putin. While Democrat Hillary Clinton so far is aggressive toward Russia and Republican Donald Trump wants cooperation, the Kremlin