The Republicans’ failure to repeal Obamacare has created a political opening. The American public, threatened with the withdrawal of health insurance from millions of people, has largely come to embrace the idea of universal coverage. At such a moment, Democrats are right to advance ideas for building on the gains accomplished by the Affordable Care Act. Unfortunately, many of them ...

“We have taken every step man can devise,” said President Lyndon Johnson in 1964, “to insure that neither a madman nor a malfunction could trigger nuclear war.” Apparently lots of people are starting to doubt that this is true. The latest entrant is an op-ed article this week in the New York Times. The authors, Jeffrey Bader and Jonathan D. ...

As the home stretch for the September 24 vote heaves into view, it’s hard not to conclude that a fourth term is Chancellor Angela Merkel’s for the taking. The polls have barely shifted over the past five weeks, with Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union-led bloc solidifying the lead it’s held since the spring and no relief for Social Democratic Party leader ...

In late July, Oaktree Capital’s Howard Marks put out a memo describing current investment trends that could turn out to be mistakes. Marks urged caution on equity valuations, low volatility, FAANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google), ETFs, interest rates, private equity, venture capital and even bitcoin. Caution alone is not an investment strategy, so Marks penned a follow-up ...

Bloomberg The pound’s rally, spurred by the Bank of England’s hawkish rhetoric, may be vulnerable to heightened sensitivity to economic data and Brexit uncertainty this week. Sterling rounded off its biggest weekly gain in five months against the dollar, reaching its highest level since just after Britain’s European Union referendum as UK policy makers spurred speculation of an interest-rate increase ...

Reuters Qatar’s stock index fell for a tenth straight session on Sunday as talk of dispute negotiations fails to sway investors, while strong oil prices boosted the Saudi Arabia market. Qatar’s index fell 0.4 percent to 8,375 points, but closed 62 points above the session low. The index has lost 6.3 percent over 10 sessions. Doha Bank dropped 2.6 percent. ...

Bloomberg Nordea Bank AB is losing clients in Sweden in what independent mortgage brokers say appears to be a protest against the bank’s plan to redomicile to Finland in pursuit of a more accommodating regulatory environment. The customer shift has been registered by two online home-loan brokers and confirmed by other banks operating in Sweden. Nordea says flows in the ...

Bloomberg Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez, the former governor of the Bank of Spain, was absolved of possible criminal acts in the Bankia SA case, along with seven other central bank and regulatory officials. Their omission of not taking action to prevent the Spanish commercial bank’s initial public offering wasn’t a criminal action — even though its accounts may have been ...

Reuters Turkey’s central bank said it will keep monetary policy tight until the inflation outlook displays a significant improvement, after it kept rates steady for the third straight meeting. Current elevated levels of inflation and developments in core inflation indicators pose risks to pricing behaviour and the bank would deliver further monetary tightening if needed, it said. It kept all ...

Bloomberg The South African Reserve Bank’s fight against its detractors escalated this week, and now even has President Jacob Zuma in its sights. The central bank in court papers accused Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane of bias and being part of a campaign to undermine its independence after documents showed the anti-graft ombudsman held a secret meeting with Zuma’s lawyers before ...