Opinion

The market creates income inequality; governments reduce it through taxes and social transfers. That’s the conventional picture — only it doesn’t work as well as it used to, and new ways of fighting inequality are needed, likely focusing on moving more people into better-quality jobs. In a recent paper (and a shorter blog post), two economists at the Organization for ...

Call it the carrot and stick. After the National People’s Congress repealed presiden- tial term limits, allowing Xi Jinping to rule beyond 2023, China’s 64-year-old leader is handing out some nice sweeteners. Two major announcements show the pace of financial reform is quickening. As Bloomberg News reported in January, China will indeed merge its banking and insurance watchdogs. At the ...

Active investment managers argue that increased market volatility provides an environment in which their stock-picking skills can shine. The world’s largest pension fund wants them to put their money — or rather their fees — where their collective mouths are. Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), which has about 163 trillion yen ($1.5 trillion) of assets, is changing how it ...

A period of tranquility in Asian central banking appears to be ending, and that’s not a bad thing. India and Indonesia are probably done cutting interest rates. Their next steps are likely to be hikes, with the Philippines following suit. While these nations’ central banks are minnows relative to the Bank of Japan and People’s Bank of China, their rate ...

Facebook Inc. is trouble. It’s in trouble, too, with politicians in multiple countries now sniffing into its lackadaisical approach towards protecting user privacy and investors knocking $95 billion (about 18 percent) off its market capitalization in the past week and a half. But the company also just seems congenitally inclined to push things too far, to treat its users again ...

When the sole dissenter on a stock that has 50 buy recommendations ratchets up his bearish call with a ‘buyer beware’ warning on the whole industry, you sit up. When the stock in question is ICICI Bank Ltd, which had to downsize an initial share sale of its securities business (ICICI Securities Ltd) amid lacklustre demand, you take notice. Among ...

As if the health-care-merger frenzy weren’t wild enough already, it looks as if Walmart Inc. may soon dive into it. The mammoth discount retailer is reportedly in early-stage talks to acquire Humana Inc., a health insurer valued at $41. The potential merger comes on the heels of a December offer from drug-store chain and pharmacy-benefits manager CVS Health Corp. to ...

Call it the Holy Grail of the euro zone. Ever since the financial crisis, economists have been seeking ways to create a safe financial instrument, which banks in the single currency area can buy without having to load up on domestic sovereign bonds. Many placed their hopes in the proposal of a bundle of sovereign bonds called “European Safe Bonds” ...

The recent surge in stock volatility has captivated the financial community. Throughout the swings, however, bonds have remained unusually calm. The markets are so disconnected that when the Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked more than 400 points amid concern China would sell its hoard of more than $1.1 trillion in US Treasuries in retaliation for the Trump administration’s proposed tariffs, ...

Trade war? Then that should make Chinese consumer stocks a good buy. To be specific — domestically focused brands. Many are resilient because Chinese consumers remain their most important market. Some appliance makers are even more popular at home after buying foreign firms. Take baijiu distillers Kweichow Moutai Co., a company more valuable than McDonald’s Corp., and Wuliangye Yibin Co. ...