Opinion

In documents published alongside Carnival Corp’s $6.25 billion debt and equity offering, the beleaguered cruise ship operator showed why it might not keep much of that cash for long. Carnival held $4.7 billion in customer deposits at the end of February for trips that passengers paid for in advance but hadn’t yet taken. Because their cruises have been cancelled amid ...

The Federal Reserve seems determined to do whatever it takes to help protect the US economy from being devastated by coronavirus-related shutdowns. It’s buying so many bonds that its balance sheet is approaching $6 trillion: Traditionally in recessions, the Fed buys increasing amounts of government bonds, which reduces interest rates. That usually lowers borrowing rates for businesses as well, helping ...

After 10 days of persistent symptoms, Boris Johnson is the first leader of a major country to be hospitalised with Covid-19. There’s never a good time to be sick, but there could hardly be a worse moment for a prime minister who has become such a towering figure in his party and the UK and who has enjoyed strong ratings ...

The story of how the Covid-19 virus emerged in Wuhan, China, has produced a nasty propaganda battle between the United States and China. The two sides have traded some of the sharpest charges made since the Soviet Union in 1985 falsely accused the CIA of manufacturing AIDS. US intelligence officials don’t believe the pandemic was caused by deliberate wrongdoing. The ...

Here’s one more issue to add to the bonfire of tensions with China brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. The country is reportedly reopening its wet markets, the fresh produce stalls associated with Covid-19’s early spread in Wuhan. It’s understandable that countries now in the grip of the first wave of infection might be outraged. Many blame wet markets for ...

As the Black Death scythed through Europe in 1348 and 1349, workers across the continent discovered that they had power for the first time in their lives. Textile workers in St. Omer in northern France asked for and received three successive wage rises within a year of the Great Plague’s passing. Many workers’ guilds struck for higher pay and shorter ...

It’s still early, but I think we can already say that Donald Trump is totally failing when it comes to economic leadership during the coronavirus recession. The thing about the 10 million — 10 million! — people who have filed for unemployment in the last two weeks is that everyone has seen this coming for some time. Indeed, it is ...

The coronavirus has already dealt a vicious blow to key sectors of the US economy. If the pandemic drags on into the fall, though, it’s likely to devastate yet another area that has so far escaped with minimal damage: higher education. The problems confronting the nation’s colleges and universities long predate today’s crisis. But if current trends continue, the pandemic ...

The photo stopped me in my tracks: Californians jogging, walking and cycling along a crowded bike path. Surely it must have been snapped weeks ago, before “social distancing” became a phrase on everyone’s lips? No: The photo was dated March 28, almost 10 days after Governor Gavin Newsom issued a “stay at home” order to combat the coronavirus pandemic in ...

In 2017, the British billionaire Richard Branson agreed to cut his stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd to just 20% by selling one-third of the airline to Air France-KLM. In December, he had a change of heart about that 220 million-pound ($274 million) deal, and opted to keep his shareholding in the company he founded at 51%. America’s Delta Air ...