Opinion

Internet users throughout the European Union – and, in some cases, in the rest of the world as well – are starting to get gently pushed towards accepting various companies’ new service and privacy terms that comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is going into effect on May 25. Trying to deal with it has convinced ...

How much debt can the US government afford? Nobody knows for sure, but it’s pushing the envelope like never before — or at least more than it has since World War II. In its latest Global Fiscal Monitor report, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) offers an admonishment for the world’s developed nations: Use this period of economic growth to pay ...

Rather than looking at what investors expect, perhaps the better question is: What does the European Central Bank (ECB) want to achieve out of its April 26 meeting? Sticking the euro in a box is the answer. Currency stability helps its cause as it manages the delicate balancing act of bringing its QE stimulus packages to a close sometime this ...

UBS Group AG CEO Sergio Ermotti is running out of goodies to sustain the Swiss bank’s premium valuation. After a poor end to 2017, he tried to placate shareholders with buybacks. Now, he is counting on growth at the investment bank to drive future returns. But with a blowout quarter for trading behind us, and more work to do to ...

“What happens to you here is forever,” warns O’Brien, an agent of the Thought Police, in “1984. He would’ve loved the internet. Online, everything is forever. All the sites you visit, articles you like, posts you share: They’re in the permanent file. Facebook Inc.’s most recent scandal — in which it allowed an outside company to furtively collect its users’ ...

When August 2016 began, Paul Manafort was about 11 weeks into his job as chairman of Donald Trump’s campaign. But despite the political tumult, Manafort found time that month to meet at a swank Manhattan cigar bar with someone the FBI has suggested has ties to Russian intelligence. By the time August ended, Manafort was gone — having resigned after ...

Nobody expects Deutsche Bank AG to set the world alight when it reports first-quarter results on Thursday — the lender has already warned that profit will be hit by adverse currency movements and higher funding costs. But it’s a perfect time for new CEO Christian Sewing to front-load the bad news and announce some bold decisions. That means taking the ...

Eastern Europe has been on the receiving end of European Union largesse ever since it joined the bloc. But eastern members likely have a big fight on their hands as the bloc’s establishment attempts to link further aid to compliance with its vision of European values. There are many fault lines in Europe, but when it comes to battles over ...

The global economy is on the mend — but will the recovery be quashed by too much worldwide debt? Why are President Donald Trump’s tariffs such a bad deal for the US economy? It’s not just because they might start a trade war. It’s because of tax theory. Now, most tax theory is incredibly boring. (Hopefully my former economics professors ...

The world’s biggest champion of clean-energy vehicles has opened its arms to embattled electric-car maker Tesla Inc. Or so it seems. Beijing is removing caps on foreign ownership of automaker ventures, widening access to its critically important, high-margin car market. The limits will be rescinded over five years, with restrictions on electric cars to go this year. At first blush, ...