Opinion

It’s easy to understand Apple chief executive officer (CEO) Tim Cook’s somewhat self-righteous comments on the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal: His company has never emphasized customer data monetization, and privacy has been one of its persistent selling points. Apple still collects our data—and reserves the right to share it—but the company has a much better track record than newer tech titans. ...

“Don’t tell me what you value,” Joe Biden once said. “Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” He wasn’t talking about the European Union, obviously, but it’s a great line that’s as telling today in Europe as it was when he used it to criticize Washington Republicans in 2008. Negotiations on the next seven-year budget cycle ...

A curious thing is happening in China: Its stocks appear immune to any economic slowdown. For years, there was a strong correlation between China’s GDP growth rate and the performance of the benchmark MSCI China Index, which tracks Hong Kong and US-listed Chinese companies. The relationship was so pronounced that fund managers sifted through an array of macro indicators trying ...

Asset swaps have been a big thing in pharma over the past few years. Now it’s time for the un-swap. Novartis AG said it was unwinding part of a complicated 2014 asset swap with GlaxoSmithKline PLC, trading its stake in their consumer-health joint venture for $13 billion. The decision isn’t a huge surprise, though the timing is unexpected. It suggests ...

So is a trade war upon us? President Donald Trump announced last week that the US would place $60 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese goods, but what does that mean for the future of world trade? This conflict seems more likely to remain a modest spat than to blossom into a slugfest. First of all, China responded to Trump’s ...

Anybody who commutes via ride-share in one of Southeast Asia’s traffic-choked cities knows that Uber Technologies Inc. has always been an also-ran in the fast-growing region. Compared with Grab Taxi Holdings Pte. Ltd., the dominant ride-sharing company in Southeast Asia, it consistently had fewer cars available and was perpetually behind in offering localized services. When Uber announced on Monday that ...

The financial crisis and the bursting of the housing bubble are now a decade behind us. But at least one consequence persists: a pile of student loans. Those loans, and the government’s relentless efforts to collect on them, continue to haunt Americans years after names like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns faded into memory. Since the recession began in 2008, ...

Without having done much yet, Amazon.com Inc. is already transforming US health care — and not necessarily for the better. The mere threat of the online giant getting into the health business prompted the country’s two largest pharmacy benefit managers — CVS Health Corp. and Express Scripts Holding Co. — to join forces with two of its largest insurers, Aetna ...

Economists like to say that no one wins in a trade war. We may soon find out if they’re right. Only hours after US President Donald Trump said he would slap tariffs on a range of Chinese products, China imposed punitive duties on some imports from the US in retaliation for previously announced US tariffs on steel and aluminum. And ...

India has much to learn from the opening of China’s onshore bond market. Last year, Beijing allowed overseas investors to access local-currency securities via its so-called Bond Connect. On Friday, Bloomberg LP announced the inclusion of Chinese government and policy-bank debt in the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index. Over a 20-month period starting in April next year, as many as ...