Opinion

A car can look like a fantastic bargain on the lot, only to reveal itself as a lemon when you drive it away. It’s not so different with trade agreements. Take the deal hammered out between the US and Mexico on automotive imports, which the two countries hope to extend to Canada, the third member of the North American Free ...

Shareholders in China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, the giant oil refiner known as Sinopec, have little to complain about this year. Thanks to excitement around the planned spinoff of its pipelines and marketing businesses and better margins in a time of weaker crude prices, the shares are up 38 percent this year. After announcing a record half-year profit over the ...

Storm clouds are brewing over the global technology industry. A host of hardware companies, including Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics Co, Foxconn Technology Group and Intel Corp are sitting on inventory stockpiles not seen since the financial crisis a decade ago. And it comes amid a possible US-China trade war; likely monetary tightening by the Fed; more expensive growth in China’s ...

Crispr is coming to the farm. The gene-editing tool, best known for its potential to prevent disease and fight cancer, is now being used to improve corn, wheat, rice, mushrooms and much else. It could lead to hardier, more plentiful crops and tastier, cheaper, more nutritious food. The problem is that Europe and the US are both pursuing flawed approaches ...

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell took to the podium at the annual Jackson Hole monetary conference, delivering a message of support for the central bank’s policy of ongoing gradual interest-rate increases. This policy stance is less about commitment to estimates of key policy variables such as the natural rate of interest and more about data dependence. Unfortunately, Powell left the ...

The world’s largest automaker is flinging big bets around in the hope that something sticks. It might be better off doing what it knows best. Toyota Motor Corp said it’s deepening ties with Uber Technologies Inc, investing $500 million and making Sienna minivans equipped with the tech company’s self-driving software. A yet-to-be determined third party will operate that fleet. One ...

Apple Inc proved one thing this year: It can charge whatever it wants for iPhones. Its growth rests on its ability to maintain that pricing power. Mark Gurman and Debby Wu of Bloomberg News revealed more details of Apple’s planned makeover for its fall 2018 iPhone models. There will be an updated version of the 2017 iPhone X; a higher-end, ...

China’s consumer growth is a key plank underpinning the investment thesis for many of the country’s big technology companies. But the torrent of revenue from domestic customers is getting expe- nsive, forcing the likes of Tencent Holdings Ltd, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Sina Corp to pony up more cash just to keep the numbers humming along at the accustomed ...

Remarks by Fed officials at the symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, confirmed the consensus market expectation that the US central bank will hike interest rates two more times this year, delivering the biggest annual tightening in more than a decade. The increases would be carried out even as the Fed is reducing the size of its $4 trillion balance sheets. ...

China’s banks have a deposit problem. For those outside the so-called Big Four lenders, there’s just not enough to go around. It’s not an issue for the biggest. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd, Bank of China Ltd, China Construction Bank Corp and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd all share one thing: sticky, low-cost retail deposits. Move down the ...