Opinion

The Labour Party’s sudden shift on Brexit isn’t definitive and settles nothing – but in this endless saga of ruinous incompetence, it counts as a hopeful development. After dithering for months, Jeremy Corbyn has said he and his party will support a second referendum to avoid what he calls “a damaging Tory Brexit.” About time. But it isn’t just a ...

Chinese industrial borrowers are strapped for cash, as billions of dollars of debt come due this year. The ones that benefited from Beijing’s largess should be most worried. Issuers are on the hook for more than 6 trillion yuan ($890 billion) in 2019, up 15% from a year earlier. Companies in sectors including mining and materials, capital goods and real ...

India isn’t keeping the best company. When Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials reviewed the global economy at February’s meeting, they ticked off a list of major emerging markets that had struggled: China, Russia, Brazil and South Africa all got a must-do-better grade. Disappointing numbers mean policy makers can add one closer to home: India itself. Gross domestic product rose ...

If a conventional company wants to experiment in an unfamiliar industry, it might create a small working group, make a tiny number of products, test what works and slowly expand if its approach catches on. Amazon.com Inc. is not a conventional company. After spending a decade essentially doing the slow-and-steady experimental approach in groceries with its Amazon Fresh delivery service ...

With the abrupt breakdown of the Hanoi summit, the diplomatic negotiations between the United States and North Korea got a reset, and that’s a good thing. If dialogue resumes, it will be on a firmer, more realistic basis. President Trump’s swoon for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had worried many observers who feared the president would make a rushed, ...

Send out a search party for South Korea’s economy. Domestic activity is in a tough spot, but the Bank of Korea seems preoccupied with second-guessing the Federal Reserve and parsing any trade accord between the US and China. The central bank kept its benchmark interest rate at 1.75 percent on February 28, a non-step that was widely forecast. The flaw ...

Well, that’s a relief! Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng says a global financial crisis-style recession isn’t likely today. “The January 2019 price decline was not caused by recession or any kind of weak demand … The same severe GDP contraction Malaysia suffered in 2009 is nowhere to be seen today.” Fantastic. But who says it’s the same? Throwing up ...

France’s Yellow Vest protest movement seems to be losing steam. Turnout is diminishing, public support is weakening, and anger has flared over anti-Semitism in its ranks. If the marchers are mostly staying home, though, the problems they identified haven’t gone away. In fact, they could define President Emmanuel Macron’s remaining time in office. The protesters first took to the streets ...

Sydney is a wonderful, modern town. But, over the past few days, all anyone here has wanted to talk to me about is that most 19th-century of industries: coal. It’s not hard to see why, after a startling report — quickly denied — that some Chinese ports had blocked shipments of Australian coal. The Australian dollar briefly tanked on the ...

Theresa May tried to execute a u-turn while claiming to remain utterly consistent. Having promised dozens of times to deliver Brexit on time on March 29, she told parliament she would support a short delay to the exit date if that was the wish of lawmakers. But her core message was unchanged: The choice before MPs next month will still ...