Opinion

Something unusual happened last weekend when a prominent group of Senate and House members travelled together to a big foreign-policy gathering here: They were able to stop talking about President Trump for a few days and focus on the country’s business — and even agree on some big issues. It felt like an escape from “Crazytown,” as Trump-era Washington was ...

Christine Lagarde is eager to make her mark at the European Central Bank (ECB). At the moment, we know precious little about her views on the future course of monetary policy. But one thing is clear, the new president wants the ECB to take on a bigger role in the fight against climate change. Lagarde thinks it’s possible to reconcile ...

A year ago Richard Branson was on his private island, Necker, when the former Twitter executive Adam Bain came to see him with a proposal for how to take Branson’s suborbital space travel company public. The bearded British billionaire is doubtless glad he took the meeting: After an unsteady start, Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc.’s valuation has rocketed. The stock has ...

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (MUFG) is investing more than $700 million in Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab. It’s a three-way deal in which everyone gets what they currently lack. The Japanese megabank and the Singapore-headquartered “superapp,” a one-stop online shop spanning food to finance, get to plug gaps in their businesses. They also keep one of Grab’s existing backers ...

In late 2016, Liam Fox, then the UK’s secretary of state for international trade — a new job created in the aftermath of the Brexit vote — declared the birth of a “post-geography trading world.” With technology breaking down the barriers of time and distance, there was no need to fret about the UK leaving the European Union (EU), the ...

HSBC Holdings Plc is embarking on a radical overhaul while it continues the hunt for a permanent chief executive. For investors, the strategic muddle of this bizarre situation should be at least as troubling as the stinging cuts, $7.3 billion of charges and suspension of buybacks that the bank announced with its earnings on. The London-based lender will cut as ...

Thermal coal has become a byword for the resource industry’s climate crimes. From BlackRock Inc. down, fund managers are reluctant to touch a mineral that releases more carbon dioxide than any other energy source. Large miners, from BHP Group to Anglo American Plc, are trying to dump it. Coal is also — for now at least — profitable. It’s the ...

How often do you see a piece of economic or financial information revised upward by 45%? And how reliable would you regard a data set that’s subject to such adjustments? This is the problem confronting epidemiologists trying to make sense of the novel coronavirus spreading from China’s Hubei province. On February 13, the tally there surged by 45% — or ...

Italian banks embarking on a round of consolidation was always a matter of when, not if. Meager profitability, a fragmented industry and a desperate need for investment are obvious ingredients for M&A. Lenders have rid themselves of most of the bad loans that crippled Italy’s banks after the financial crisis, so dealmaking should be unhindered. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA’s surprise $5.3 ...

SoftBank Group Corp. became vulnerable to activist attack by Elliott Management Corp. because of the harmful noise generated by the Japanese technology investor’s giant Vision Fund. That noise just won’t die down. A report appeared in the Financial Times that Vision Fund head Rajeev Misra is looking to raise a multi-billion dollar fund to buy listed stocks. The blueprint was ...