Opinion

Two consumer goods giants, two first-quarter reports that exceeded analysts’ expectations. Which is better? Nestle SA and Unilever both have the same problem. They have to show they can grow, but at the same time improve profitability. To this end, both are reshaping their core portfolios. Nestle has an activist investor lurking in the background, while Unilever is at risk ...

Anti-establishment parties have made real inroads in southern Europe in recent years, taking power in Italy and Greece after vowing to jettison mainstream political thinking and challenge the economic consensus in Brussels. As Spain goes to the polls this month, many are worried about the rise of Vox, an anti-immigrant, anti-feminist movement that has emerged as a genuine electoral force. ...

Here’s some good news for America’s flood-hit farmers: China is looking at shifting agricultural tariffs, imposed as part of its tit-for-tat trade war with President Donald Trump, to other products instead. Levies of some sort would still remain in place, people familiar with the situation told Bloomberg News, but move to non-agricultural items. That would allow Beijing to match Washington’s ...

Japan lost its position as the world’s second-biggest economy to China awhile ago. But it’s beating out its Asian rival in one area at least: private equity. For restructuring experts such as KKR & Co. LP, whose founders recently declared Japan the company’s “highest priority” outside the US, the smaller country offers much more attractive opportunities. And the reasons are ...

At this point in the earnings season for big US banks, it was clear that Morgan Stanley’s figures were going to be down — the more pressing question was by how much. After all, the firm derives almost all of its revenue from market-related fees, a weak spot for competitors like Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., ...

In the rebalancing of Sino-American relations that’s underway, the usual roles are reversed: China’s normally deft President Xi Jinping appears to have badly overreached in seeking advantage. And President Trump, who often seems tone-deaf on foreign policy, is riding a bipartisan consensus that it’s time to push back against Beijing. The two nations will probably make a trade deal soon, ...

Whisper it quietly, but the worst may be over for the euro zone economy. After months of gloom, and with analysts wondering whether Europe was heading for a recession, the industrial sector shows signs of stabilising. The slight revival will please the European Central Bank (ECB), which is considering whether to double down on its monetary easing as it struggles ...

President Donald Trump, who has received unprecedented support from America’s gun lobby, seems determined to make it easier to export firearms and harder to keep track of whether they’re destined for terrorists or rogue regimes. He proposes to do this by shifting oversight of the export of semi-automatic and non-automatic firearms, as well as of various gun components and some ...

Almost 10 years after the Great Recession ended, the growing threat of a new economic slowdown raises a troubling question: When the next recession strikes, what can the world’s central banks do? With interest rates low and their balance sheets still loaded with assets bought to fight the 2008 crisis, do they have the tools to respond? The Great Recession ...

As nearly a billion Indians are going to the polls this month and next, no one doubts jobs will be central to their vote. We just can’t agree on whether the employment picture is rosy or dark. While the government cites payroll data to claim significant job creation, the opposition holds up a leaked preliminary report that pegged unemployment in ...