Opinion

  Announcing another interest-rate increase, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the path towards a soft landing — with lower inflation and no significant rise in unemployment — has narrowed. The question is whether there is any such path. The first estimate of second-quarter gross domestic product showed a fall of 0.9% at an annual rate. This came after ...

  Long-awaited funding for the CHIPS Act is a win for a cabal of US chipmakers and foreign companies, but largely ignores the nation’s true semiconductor leaders who have been propping up the domestic sector for two decades. Three-quarters of the $52 billion allocated to the industry by Congress was earmarked “to strengthen semiconductor advanced test, assembly, and packaging capability ...

“It feels like it’s Birmingham’s chance to shine,” says Stephen Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders, a hit television series set in the city. Two thousand performers took part in last night’s opening ceremony for this year’s Commonwealth Games. The city’s landmarks are splashed in bright paint or festooned with multi-colored banners. Brummies are brimming with pride. The games are ...

  In the European energy crisis, all of the attention is focused on Germany and gas from Russia. But France and its fleet of struggling nuclear reactors are at least as important. Indeed, the first European city to suffer a blackout as temperatures drop toward the end of the year may well be Paris rather than Berlin. As winter approaches, ...

  By all indications, Russian President Vladimir Putin is weaponizing energy exports to divide Europe and undermine its support for Ukraine. The European Union’s response this week is unlikely to change his calculations. Time is running out to come up with a better solution. Russia’s state-owned Gazprom PJSC has slashed gas flows to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline ...

  Even as the world braces for recession, the big consumer groups, including Coca-Cola Co, Nestle SA and Unilever Plc, beat expectations and raised their sales guidance this earnings season. It seems many shoppers were prepared to pay more for their products. Yet this optimism flew in the face of an earlier warning about the sector: Walmart Inc, a bellwether ...

For the big internet companies that make their living from selling advertising, these are troubled times. As happens in any kind of economic slowdown, businesses cut ad spending quickly. For Amazon.com Inc, though, whose e-commerce business is getting hammered, advertising is proving to be a bright spot. Well, relatively speaking. Just as it did for Amazon’s rivals in digital advertising, ...

  Jack Ma may be blunt — his harsh criticism of China’s state-dominated banking system cost him a $34 billion blockbuster initial public offering in 2020. But he is not stupid. The billionaire plans to cede control of Ant Group Co, a fintech affiliate of his e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, the Wall Street Journal reported. He currently controls ...

  After the most recent US inflation report again exceeded expectations, with prices surging 9.1% in the year to June, investors have been wondering whether the Federal Reserve would accelerate its monetary tightening for a second time — raising its policy rate not by the previously indicated 75 basis points, but by a full percentage point. Expectations seem to have ...

The war in Ukraine is, let’s admit it, weird. Russian citizens can, at least theoretically, travel to Ukraine for business or pleasure, though now — only since June — they need visas. The belligerents are parties to a recent deal ensuring safe grain exports. Russian gas keeps flowing to Europe through Ukraine’s pipeline system, albeit in reduced volumes. Countries that ...