Opinion

In the space of just two years, the euro zone has gone from the world economy’s hero to zero. In 2017, the bloc expanded at the fastest rate in a decade, as it benefited from a combination of booming global trade and ultra-easy monetary policy. Now, the currency union has become the prime concern for those who worry about a ...

HSBC Holdings Plc is making a promise: Cost control is coming without layoffs. The pledge — laid out by Chief Executive Officer John Flint — may seem like wishful thinking, given the lengthening list of challenges to the bank’s revenue growth. For investors, it means HSBC will have to gin up growth faster than last year’s 5 percent gain, slow ...

What happened to Europe’s high-yield bond market? It has been a banner year so far for bond issuance for investment grade companies and governments. But for those with weaker credit ratings, sales are about 60 percent down from the same time last year. This is a worrying sign that financing is shutting off for the borrowers that are most vulnerable ...

Germany may be the biggest likely victim of any punitive US tariffs on car imports, but the industry’s complex geography means other European countries would also be hurt – and in relative terms, some may take an even bigger hit. Two of them, Italy and Hungary, are run by populist governments with leaders well-disposed towards President Donald Trump. Eight of ...

Sasda is looking more like Sad-sda after UK regulators said they could block the proposed combination of J Sainsbury Plc and Walmart Inc.’s British subsidiary, Asda. The Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) findings are more onerous than even the worst case scenarios that the two companies or financial analysts had mapped out. But they do have a silver lining for ...

Many pro-Brexit Brits are taken with the idea that the UK doesn’t need to belong to a large bloc any more than its tiny former colony Singapore does. The Southeast Asian city-state, they argue, has flourished by lowering taxes and opening up its economy to trade and investment, and so can a post-Europe Britain. Those excited about the prospects for ...

Is there a way for the United States and its allies to remain in northeastern Syria, even after President Trump’s pledged withdrawal of US military forces there? Officials are struggling to devise such a “workaround” strategy, but it could carry more risks than keeping the existing advisory force. The loudest public call for an alternative to withdrawal from Syria is ...

Since taking over as the main supervisor of the euro zone’s largest lenders, the European Central Bank (ECB) has waged a war against sickly lenders. The regulator has forced banks to be more open about value of exposures sitting on their books, and urged them to write down bad loans faster. All this should not only bolster financial stability, it ...

There’s nothing worse than things going crazy at the office while you’re away on holiday. That’s what happened to Chinese iron ore traders over the past fortnight, after Vale SA’s Brumadinho dam disaster prompted fears that as much as 40 million metric tons of metal could be taken off the market while the Brazilian miner closed similar facilities. As mainland ...

All too late, the British political system seems to be awakening to the insoluble crises posed by Brexit. With negotiations stalled and no obvious solution at hand, both main parties are on the verge of historic break-ups. Squint and you just might see some reasons for optimism. This week, 11 legislators — three from the Tories and eight from Labour ...