Opinion

Rising global trade tensions are morphing into a conflict fought with currency devaluations that historically have proven even more important than tariffs in influencing economic growth and financial markets. If this trend continues, the ultimate impact will likely be negative for asset valuations. This shift, which is aimed at gaining export competitiveness, is important for investors partly because it will ...

Theresa May’s plan for Britain’s post-Brexit relationship with the European Union comes at least 18 months too late. With only a few months of real negotiating time before the UK leaves, it has triggered the worst political turmoil yet faced by May, calling into question her future as prime minister. On top of all that, it’s a plan that the ...

Elon Musk is heading to the world’s biggest market for electric cars. Again. This time around, the Tesla Inc. CEO doesn’t have much choice. Musk’s visit to Shanghai , following Tesla’s move to register a wholly owned subsidiary in China, could provide the solution to the problems the carmaker is combating at its factories, in financial markets and with its ...

It’s abundantly clear that Americans as a whole are experiencing the best economy since the Great Recession. US employers are adding so many workers that more people are growing encouraged to enter the labour force. Wage growth is well above the average of the past decade. Corporate earnings remain rock solid. For bond investors, though, the question is never really ...

Everywhere one looks these days, it seems global norms are und-er assault. From South China Sea to Eastern Europe, longstanding international rules of the road — concepts such as non-aggression, freedom of navigation and self-determination — are being flagrantly flouted or subtly ero- ded. Ideas, like democracy and respect for human rights, that seemed to have become incontestably dominant are ...

The world’s publicly listed utilities employed 3.7 million people, had a third of a trillion dollars in capital expenditures, and brought in $2.2 trillion in revenue in 2017. Power supply is an enormous industry. It’s also an industry that would still be recognisable to utility executives from a century ago. Delivery of electricity, natural gas and water will remain part ...

If you’re a foreign bidder bent on a controversial takeover of a UK company, you can do worse than use the playbook Softbank Group Corp turned to when it acquired chip designer Arm Holdings in 2016. Start with a knock-out offer the target just can’t refuse, and pay in cash rather than your own wobbly shares. With the board on ...

The next time an analyst tells you that China stocks look cheap, take it with a grain of salt. In Asia’s biggest economy, key accounting metrics such as return on equity are dead. Mainland shares are among the worst in the region, with the CSI 300 Index down 16 percent since January despite its members averaging double-digit revenue growth and ...

You’d hardly know there was a UK political crisis going by looking at the pound. Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan was so distasteful to one of her leading cabinet ministers that he quit — surely that is a recipe for the currency to tank. And yet, sterling managed to climb to its highest in almost a month versus the ...

Rumours of the demise of medium-sized asset managers have proved to be greatly exaggerated, so far. But a combination of rising costs, a stagnant pool of profit and dwindling revenue in the next five years will hasten a divide in the industry between bigger firms enjoying economies of scale, and smaller specialists that can justify charging higher fees by excelling ...