To compete in the ongoing online retailing arms race, Walmart is bringing its sizable resources to bear to capture not only the U.S., but the global e-commerce market. CEO Doug McMillon recently laid out four priorities for the retailer as it looks to not only continue to dominate the physical retail space but make significant inroads in e-commerce: Make every day easier for busy families, operate with discipline, be the most trusted retailer, and deliver results and position the company to win.

Deep in the jungles of Colombia, thousands of small, illegal mining operations, many under the control of Marxist guerrillas or drug traffickers, are working long hours to pull gold out of the ground. Miners are digging in out-of-the-way places such as Timbiquí and Río Quito. From there, the gold is hauled by boat, truck or small airplanes to smelters in Cali and Medellin.

Michael Ducker, president and CEO of FedEx Freight, has joined a chorus of logistics and transportation interests calling for President-elect Donald Trump to honor America's commitment to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and bolster extant trade ties. "Trade agreements are the solution, not the problem," Ducker told the 2016 JOC Inland Distribution Conference, adding that his company was "100 percent committed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership."

Businesses that transport their goods via the highways, railways or the airways are likely to see an expansion of the nation's infrastructure. That's good news not just for companies that want to move their products in the most efficient manner possible. It may also be good news for a subset of the coal sector that produces so-called metallurgical coal for steelmaking.

Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to further open the world's second-largest economy on Saturday, as leaders of Asia-Pacific countries gathered in Peru to find new free-trade options after Donald Trump was elected U.S. president on a protectionist platform.

Apple has big plans to outfit its next iPhone with vibrant, energy-sipping organic LED displays, seeking to entice consumers with new technology that's already been embraced by other high-end smartphone makers. The trouble is that the four main suppliers for such components say they won't have enough production capacity to make screens for all new iPhones next year, with constraints continuing into 2018, presenting a potential challenge for the Cupertino, Calif.-based company.

Thanksgiving Day shopping - a delight to some, an anathema to others - isn't going away, but some stores are rethinking their strategies on whether it makes sense to be open on the holiday itself. Many of the nation's major mall operators and the big retailers that anchor them, such as Toys R Us, J.C. Penney and Macy's, are sticking with what they want to be a new tradition, kicking off the holiday shopping season on Thanksgiving Day.