For the Bank of Japan (BOJ), failure can be an opportunity. Judging from the latest economic forecasts, the central bank is falling even farther behind on meeting its 2 percent inflation target. Meanwhile, its efforts to keep interest rates down are bringing the bond market to the verge of a coma. So great is the BOJ’s buying to support its ...

The Federal Reserve’s confidence in its policy of interest-rate hikes was undoubtedly bolstered by last week’s report of a strong US economy. Look to Europe, however, and there are reasons to doubt that confidence. Economic growth in the Euro area was just 0.2 percent in the third quarter, it was reported, half of what had been forecast and in stark ...

Italy’s horror show has just started – and it’s bound to get worse. The country’s economy stagnated in the third quarter, according to latest figures. The slowdown may be part of a wider trend: the euro zone economy expanded by a meager 0.2 percent in same three months. But it’s clear that the uncertainty which has accompanied the rise to ...

The $12.8 billion bankruptcy of shadow lender Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. (IL&FS) is starting to offer a glimmer of hope. It’s about time. Unexpected defaults by the financier, owner, and operator of Indian infrastructure assets have caused a liquidity squeeze, which has brought strained relations between the government and the central bank to breaking point. The good news ...

The cryptocurrency market was roiled this month by something known as ‘stablecoins.’ These are an odd hybrid and among the most controversial and least-understood cryptocurrencies, but they’re important to the future of the internet economy. Up until October 10, the previous month had been quiet for cryptocurrencies. That’s when an intense burst of trading just before midnight New York time ...

Bloomberg The world’s major economies that entered 2018 accelerating in sync risk entering 2019 decelerating in sync. The shift is being led by China, where the economy’s weakest performance since 2009 is set to worsen unless a peace can be struck in the trade war with the US. Factory readings from Asia already show a fallout, with Taiwan, Thailand and ...

Bloomberg From the lowest in a decade to the biggest two-day gain — in the same timespan. It’s been a wild ride this week for China’s yuan, whipsawed as concern about a slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy gave way to optimism that trade tension with the US may ease. The onshore currency closed last week at 6.8870 per dollar, ...

Bloomberg British and European officials are playing down reports that a Brexit deal has been reached for banks that would provide access to the single market after the UK leaves the bloc. The pound pared gains. The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said in a tweet that the bloc was “ready” to have “close regulatory dialogue” with the ...

Bloomberg If they really want to steer clear of geopolitical flare-ups, investors should set up bigger positions in the dollar and volatility indexes — and abandon favorite hideaways in the yen and gold, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Assets long thought to be havens don’t necessarily hold up as the safest stores of value amid newer threats shaking markets ...

Bloomberg Barclays Plc saw its key measure of financial health sink to the lowest level among 48 banks in a European stress test, which gauged how well lenders could withstand heavy credit losses and other Brexit-related fallout. Barclays’s fully loaded common equity Tier 1 ratio, a measure of its highest-quality capital, shrank to 6.37 percent in a so-called adverse scenario. ...