Opinion

If the United States is to regain its position in the global semiconductor industry, it may need help from bankers as much as engineers. Intel Corp’s bold new plan to expand capacity and get into the foundry business, as well as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s pledge to build a new fab in Arizona, are both welcome news. That’s particularly the ...

Texas’ blackouts might yet claim another victim: the merchant generation sector. Vistra Corp and NRG Energy Inc face big bills arising from the state’s February freeze. Worse, those bills somehow came as a big shock. At first, Vistra’s stock jumped as it was expected to clean up on power-price spikes. Such hopes were reinforced by a big dividend increase — ...

One thing that quickly became apparent after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the fleeting collapse in financial markets is that big US banks, the villains of the previous crisis, were determined to be the good guys this time around. No job cuts in 2020. Deferred payments on credit cards and mortgages without repercussions. You name it, the likes ...

The Federal Reserve’s rescue of the global financial system one year ago prevented a public health crisis from degenerating into market chaos. When histories of the Covid-19 pandemic are written, it would be shortsighted to ignore this exercise in financial diplomacy that cemented the dollar’s role as a pillar of the world economy. This flexing of monetary muscle raises big ...

When the coronavirus pandemic brought travel to a standstill, airlines turned to every financing source they could find — even their previously untouched frequent-flier programs. Whether this is a positive development for the industry depends on who you ask. United Airlines, Delta Air and American Airlines Group have raised more than $25 billion through debt deals backed by their traveller ...

Following pandemic news too closely can be an emotional roller coaster, with dire public health warnings immediately followed by hopeful new studies. The latest soaring discovery: a new CDC study showing vaccines sharply cut all Covid-19 infections — not just symptoms. That news puts to rest one worst-case-scenario: that vaccines might protect the vaccinated against hospitalisation, but allow millions of ...

Earlier in March, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced that it would buy more bonds to stop borrowing costs rising. It was worried that the euro zone economy was in such poor shape that it couldn’t afford to have European bond yields dragged higher by their US cousins. On March 22, to mark the one-year anniversary of its Pandemic Emergency ...

President Joe Biden’s next major legislative initiative is called an “infrastructure” bill, but it’s actually something bigger. It’s about transforming the nation to better fit the needs of our future economy — in other words, industrial policy. Usually when we think of infrastructure bills, we’re talking about repairing all the old stuff: roads and bridges. This bill will definitely include ...

In the annals of 21st century capitalism, Covid-19 will go down as a pressure cooker. The pandemic has put enormous strains on livelihoods, individual well-being, healthcare systems, the viability of firms and the stability of public finances. But a byproduct of this stress is that when it’s finally behind us, we might decompress a little — and choose to be ...

Why is AstraZeneca Plc making so many unforced errors in its attempt to distribute billions of doses of Covid vaccines to the world at minimal cost? Once the pandemic is under control, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker should examine whether there’s a problem with the way it makes decisions. AstraZeneca agreed in April to help develop, manufacture and distribute Oxford University’s jab ...