There is now a doctrine of what I call “solar triumphalism”: the price of panels has been falling exponentially, the technology makes good practical sense, and only a few further nudges are needed for solar to become a major energy source. Unfortunately, this view seems to be wrong. Solar energy could be a boon to mankind and the environment, but ...

Santa Claus has left us long time back with a sleigh load of sweaters, toys and electronics — some of which we didn’t ask for, don’t want or can’t use. And so now, as legions of people say “no thanks” to some of the gifts they unwrapped on Christmas morning, about $90 billion of those holiday goodies are going back ...

Yang Yang, a 22-year-old Chinese corn farmer, spends two to three hours per day streaming video of life in his cliffside village to smartphones across China. He spends lots of time clinging to a cliffside ladder, one hand on his selfie stick, while he banters with fans about village life. It’s hardly riveting television, but in China it has an ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank is heading for a two-year leadership overhaul that peaks with the selection of a successor to President Mario Draghi, and it will be politics as much as ability that determines who get the jobs. Five of the ECB’s seven top posts will be vacated by the end of 2019, starting with Vice President Vitor Constancio ...

Bloomberg Janet Yellen’s Federal Reserve probably didn’t make much progress last month toward resolving the biggest topic of debate during her tenure leading the central bank: low inflation. Minutes of the US central bank’s December 12-13 policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee gathering will probably show the outlook for consumer prices continued to dominate the discus- sion when they are published ...

Bloomberg China’s smaller banks started the New Year with a double whammy from regulators and investors, and more pain may be looming. Bank of Tianjin Co. tumbled by as much as 12 percent in the first two trading days, the biggest two-day decline since its Hong Kong listing in March 2016, after rallying at the end of last year. Bank ...

Bloomberg China’s central bank will make modest increases in money-market rates in 2018 as it aims to keep up the pressure on deleveraging and prevent too much divergence with US policy, according to a Bloomberg survey. The People’s Bank of China is seen raising interest rates on reverse-repurchase agreements by five basis points three times this year, starting in the ...

Bloomberg After seven years of preparation, $2 billion in compliance costs and one false start, the biggest shake-up to European regulation in a decade is finally here. With so much at stake, investors are likely to sit on their hands for now. Trading volumes slumped ahead of the changes, according to two brokers with knowledge of the matter, with client ...

Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co. delayed orders for 23 of Boeing Co.’s 737 Max 7 aircraft, casting doubt on the future of the smallest Max variant as it adds 40 Max 8 deliveries valued at nearly $4.5 billion. Pushing most of its Max 7 orders out until 2023 and 2024 probably means that the carrier is trying to decide whether it ...

Bloomberg Ryanair Holdings Plc’s passenger growth advanced at the slowest rate since 2014 in 2017 after it canceled thousands of flights to cope with a staffing crunch, sparking outrage among consumers and regulators. The 2017 customer tally was 129 million, or 2 million less than initially forecast, according to a statement from Ryanair on Wednesday, with December’s performance the worst ...