Opinion

British Prime Minister Theresa May is doing something politicians almost never do: She is charging into a battle she will almost certainly lose. Does she have a plan to survive and lead the aftermath or, like the Spartan Leonidas at the Battle of Thermopylae, will she sacrifice herself and her troops for a position she can’t hold? How the weeks ...

Japanese investors salivating at the juicy 5.4% dividend yield available from the initial public offering (IPO) of SoftBank Group Corp.’s telecom unit should rein in their excitement. It won’t last. The $23.5 billion IPO of Softbank Group’s cash-cow wireless carrier, which will confusingly trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as SoftBank Corp., is a hit among Japan’s traditionally conservative investors, ...

This is the time of year for annual reckonings and predictions by strategists and analysts, illustrating little more than that they know what pleases their employers and that their powers of prognostication are non-existent. Yet, full of bravado and confidence, they explain what stocks to buy, when a recession will come along, what the Federal Reserve is going to do, ...

The imminent end of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s final term presents a great challenge for both her country and the entire European project. If her successor can’t pull the German economy out of its slide towards second-tier status, the union could lose its most important financial supporter. Since Merkel’s announcement that she will not seek another term in 2021, the ...

If you thought Emmanuel Macron was too much of a technocrat, you’ll only be partially convinced by his attempt to switch to a yellow vest. France’s president has fallen prey to the same curse that has afflicted all of his predecessors over the past decade: Angry protests over necessary economic reforms, and plummeting popularity. Despite his solid start as a ...

Not long ago, EU leaders were talking about a grand bargain to reform their currency union. It isn’t happening. Europe’s finance ministers have just approved a package of reforms to strengthen the monetary union. Their plan falls far short of what’s needed. The new proposals aren’t worthless — any steps to better equip the euro zone to deal with the ...

India’s government is conducting a dangerous experiment in economic management. This week, following renewed pressure to conform to the government’s thinking, the head of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Urjit Patel, resigned, citing “personal reasons.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s officials have challenged the RBI’s operational independence before, but their latest effort marks a significant escalation. It’s a pattern seen ...

The “will they, won’t they” chatter over China’s car tariffs misses where the real action is for automakers. Confusion has abounded over the deal struck between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Trump tweeted that China was reducing and removing its 40 percent tariffs on US car imports – two very different things. Car stocks rallied ...

Changes in the TV-entertainment industry’s competitive dynamics are already causing consumer frustration through channel blackouts and general difficulty finding content. The US Department of Justice has fixated on the role played by the gargantuan AT&T Inc.-Time Warner Inc. merger, but its Hail Mary attempt to undo the deal appears doomed to failure. In June, AT&T won a long-fought trial over ...

Lawmakers in the United Kingdom released a trove of Facebook Inc. documents that provide an intriguing glimpse inside the company — and obliterate any remaining notions of its chief executive officer as an innocent babe in the woods. As Nate Lanxon and Sarah Frier wrote, internal emails show Facebook wielding user data like a “commodity that could be harnessed in ...