Opinion

Is the idea of a digital dollar just a fad — like the 1980s craze with parachute pants that became synonymous with Michael Jackson and MC Hammer? Randal Quarles, the Federal Reserve’s vice chair for supervision, recently used that very imagery to express his skepticism. He wasn’t trying to prejudge the monetary authority’s thinking, which will soon be outlined in ...

Here’s a word to add to your investing vocabulary: Dungers. The term for dilapidated, crumbling houses comes from New Zealand, which is in the grip of a striking property boom. The country topped Bloomberg Economics’ risk radar in June for being the most unaffordable housing market in the world. Judging by the dunger that sold for NZ$1.8 million ($1.3 million) ...

“I had to get out of America. It has gotten so ugly, so dark and my pessimism had grown so high that I needed to do something different.” That’s how pollster Frank Luntz, currently a visiting fellow at the Center for Policy Studies, explained his decision to spend a summer in Britain studying the political landscape. Brexit aside, Britain may ...

The buyout industry’s controversial shopping trip in the UK has probably only just begun. Agreeable boards, short-termist stock market investors and a testy antitrust regime are tilting the playing field. Around half of UK takeovers of more than $1 billion have been private equity-led over the last year. The offer for Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc, worth $13 billion including assumed ...

When we envision our future, we often think in terms of technology, culture and geopolitics. All of that determines both our lifestyle and the kinds of cities we build. US cities have arrived at a crossroads. Explosive growth in the South and Southwest, heightened awareness of inequality, an aging population and technology that redefines transportation and buildings are changing priorities ...

Australia has taken a small step towards dismantling part of the stimulus it unleashed to fight Covid-19. This is no rush for the exit by the Reserve Bank, once the envy of the world for presiding over a three-decade run without a recession. Interest rate increases are years away. As financial markets and the global economy cratered last year, the ...

Credit Suisse Group AG has portentously unveiled a new vision for its employees’ work-life balance with “The Way We Work.” The initiative, which promises maximum flexibility, is just too good to be true or manageable. It’s the latest example of what’s becoming an all-too-common theme: large employers virtue signaling that they’re now all hip and flexible when it comes to ...

Five years ago, India came up with a legal answer to its perennial economic challenge of rescuing the money stuck in zombie firms. Unlike China, which has the cushion of high savings, India’s inefficient use of limited domestic capital has meant a chronic inability to put its swelling ranks of youth to work. After toying with the idea for more ...

The Chinese have a nickname for unsophisticated stock investors. They call them chives, a healthy crop that can flourish soon after planting, which keep coming up again and again — just like the chumps chasing meme stocks and blank-check companies for spectacular returns. The US market seems to be the perfect place for Chinese companies to harvest chives. This sure ...

As Kenny Rogers sang in “The Gambler”: “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away.” UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has apparently taken that lesson to heart. He called an end to the drawn-out negotiations with the European Union to agree on so-called equivalence, or common regulations on ...