Opinion

London this week has been anxious under chalky skies with prolonged drizzle, apt conditions for a nation grappling with an unruly process to (probably) depart the European Union. The debate here is largely over how Brexit will affect the political and economic relations between the UK and Europe. Largely ignored, by both Brits and Americans, is how Brexit is a ...

The battle for the Indian consumer was never going to be an all-American affair. Walmart Inc.’s splashy acquisition last year of Flipkart Online Services Pvt., the homegrown e-tailer giving Amazon.com Inc. a solid run for its money, might have given the impression of a two-horse race. But as I argued (here and here), billionaire Mukesh Ambani wasn’t going to watch ...

After 35 days, President Donald Trump announced a deal to reopen the government on exactly the same terms that were available to him more than a month ago: A short-term funding bill with continuing negotiations on border security. Trump didn’t so much cave as he just plain lost. He didn’t have the votes, and as time went on he was ...

The window of opportunity for Russia and Japan to officially end World War II with a peace treaty narrowed again after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Moscow on January 22 failed to end in a breakthrough. There’s still time for Abe to secure his legacy, but a lot depends on President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly shaky domestic standing. As I ...

First, it was the IL&FS Group that ran out of money. Now that the bankrupt Indian infrastructure lender-operator has been sequestered from creditors, the country’s securitisation industry is on borrowed time. It all began with S&P Global’s Indian affiliate, Crisil, downgrading Jharkhand Road Projects Implementation Co.’s annuity-backed bonds to D after it skipped interest and principal payments. It’s a strategic ...

One of the internet’s earliest and most lasting successes, eBay Inc., is under pressure again to remodel itself to fix a persistently cheap share price. The latest initiative from a prominent investor lacks crucial details but also highlights eBay’s missed opportunities. Elliott Management Corp. disclosed that it owns more than 4 percent of eBay’s stock, and it unveiled a blueprint ...

In 1962, at the height of the Cold War, the US sought to rally its allies to block construction of a Soviet oil pipeline that would supply Red Army forces in Eastern Europe. It was an exercise in futility. West Germany grudgingly agreed not to supply high-technology pipes for the project. But Britain, Italy and Japan all rebuffed Washington’s appeals. ...

If you weren’t listening extremely carefully, you’d be forgiven for missing it. But slipped into a broader conversation about Brexit’s impact on banking, a global finance chief has signaled that one of most dreaded, longer-term effects on the City of London is a real possibility. Asked about Citigroup Inc.’s Brexit plans, Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat confirmed what is, by ...

Overseeing money for the rich is supposed to be one of the best businesses in banking, but even the world’s biggest wealth manager is finding that it doesn’t always work out like that. In what were undoubtedly difficult market conditions, clients pulled funds from UBS Group AG in the fourth quarter, leaving the firm short on one of its key ...

China’s industrial sector is facing a crisis of confidence. So far, Beijing’s solutions haven’t been enough to shore it up. In response to streams of gloomy data — from retail sales and industrial profits to layoffs — officials have vowed billions of yuan in support for railway infrastructure investment, employment incentives, tax cuts and loan disbursements. China watchers are now ...