Opinion

The floods in Venice that have killed several people and damaged hundreds of buildings including St Mark’s Basilica appear inexorable. The city is a fragile treasure built on 118 islands off Italy’s northeast coast. In a way, it’s a miracle that Venice has managed to survive and thrive for more than 1,000 years. It built a naval and commercial empire ...

If you’ve dropped the kids off at school in London or the New York suburbs recently, the idea that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) Automotive Plc is struggling must seem far-fetched. The British carmaker’s Range Rover SUVs have become a common feature of the upper-middle class lifestyle. How else would one get to brunch and the gym? Yet a decade after ...

If President Donald Trump hopes to bring economic conservatives back to his side, this was the case he needed to make. In a speech at the Economic Club of New York, he offered a strong defense of his record on both economic growth and job creation. His argument for his trade war, on the other hand, was compelling as rhetoric ...

In December, American consumers will return more than 1 million packages to e-commerce retailers each day. It’s a flood of unwanted stuff that’s expected to peak on January 2, which UPS Inc. cheekily calls “National Returns Day.” For UPS and other shippers, that’s reason for plenty of post-holiday cheer. For everyone else, those tens of millions of packages are a ...

Line Corp. would be lucky to have a suitor. Even if it bears the name Yahoo. The instant-messenger company has been marching toward irrelevance since its dual Tokyo and New York initial public offerings three years ago, with management failing to navigate any clear future for the company or its core product. They’ve shown zero interest in geographical expansion and ...

If you are searching for an example of political hubris, look no further than what has happened in the last six months in Spain. At a general election last April, the left-wing Socialist Party and the centrist Ciudadanos registered strong electoral gains, which put them in a comfortable position to form a government together. Instead, party leaders Pablo Sanchez and ...

Boeing Co.’s 737 Max may be inching towards a return, but the crisis is far from over. The airplane maker said that it continues to aim for Federal Aviation Administration certification of updates to the troubled Max in the current quarter, which could allow it to start delivering the jets in December. It could take several more weeks to finalize ...

And then there were none. Almost exactly a year after Unilever NV announced the departure of chief executive officer Paul Polman, the consumer goods giant’s chairman Marijn Dekkers is stepping down with immediate effect. Nils Andersen, a non-executive director since 2015, will replace him. In one sense it’s a natural time for a change. Dekkers has overseen the CEO succession, ...

The titans of finance have a new foe, and it’s not Jeremy Corbyn or Elizabeth Warren. Wall Street’s elite is attacking Europe’s central banks over their reliance on negative interest rates, saying they’re hurting the economy. Monetary authorities do need to be mindful of the side effects of unconventional measures. But there’s little evidence that negative rates are proving harmful. ...

It’s no secret that we live in an era of so-called “superstar” firms — the Facebooks, Apples and Microsofts of the world. As monopolies and oligopolies, they dominate their industries and generate enormous profits. Initially hailed for their technological achievements, they’re now accused (amazingly) of creating a drag on US economic growth. Could it be? The notion seems counterintuitive. New ...