Opinion

From Gucci’s 10,000-square-foot store on the site of a former pencil factory in SoHo to Hermes’ two-story flagship in a New Jersey mega-mall, America hearts luxury. And that’s a good thing for the industry, because with Shanghai in lockdown and European demand potentially hurt by the war in Ukraine, the US once again is picking up the bling baton. In ...

  In the US and Europe, the phrase “living with the virus” refers to reopening the economy and trusting that vaccines work. Not in China. In the public discourse, that would be tantamount to “lie flat,” a catchphrase for encouraging inaction — an approach that has grown so popular that it drew a condemnation from President Xi Jinping last year. ...

  The bond-market beatings will continue until morale improves. It’s not been much fun investing in fixed income in recent months. The three-year US Treasury yield, for example, has risen fivefold since the start of October; the ascent shows little sign of abating. If bond traders are correct in their prognosis that inflation has raced to become endemic rather than ...

The first stage of the war in Ukraine didn’t go according to Vladimir Putin’s plan, but it is the next four weeks that could determine how the map of Europe is changed as a result of his invasion. The incremental sanctions tightening we’ve seen in recent days will make little difference to that battle. It will also require a major ...

The much-awaited debut of GoTo, the combination of ride-hailing app Gojek and e-commerce firm PT Tokopedia, offers investors a stark choice. Base your bet on near-term metrics like valuation and growth, or take a longer view of Indonesia’s growing middle class and digital economy. On the numbers alone, GoTo’s initial public offering looks expensive. Subtract the estimated $4 billion cash ...

  The pandemic shocks to the UK are showing up in all manner of ways. But one of the hardest to resolve will be the red-hot residential rental market. With more than 28 applicants circling each property available for rent — an all-time high according to Propertymark, the membership body for property agents — this is a dysfunctional marketplace. Estate ...

  The Federal Reserve is fighting the worst US inflation in 40 years, and its assault on rising consumer prices is probably going to get messy. You can’t just rein in 1970s-style consumer price increases without slamming the brakes on the entire economy. Until now, the stock market has mostly ignored this risk, but subtle signs are emerging that the ...

  After 45 years in business, the underwriter of homes for millions of Indians is moving in with its 28-year-old banker offspring. The joint-family arrangement makes sense for both Housing Development Finance Corp and HDFC Bank Ltd. Mortgages will get more competitive as lenders come under pressure to peg interest rates to benchmarks not in their control, such as the ...

China’s strict Covid-zero policy is getting costlier by day. As the infectious omicron variant spreads, the government is resorting to widespread lockdowns. Shanghai, a city of 25 million people, is at a standstill, and cities accounting for a quarter of China’s gross domestic product are under some form of restrictions on movement, estimates Goldman Sachs Group. Politics is an often-cited ...

  Howard Schultz’s coffee has already gone cold with investors. Just three weeks ago, Starbucks Corp said that the architect of its transformation from boutique coffee house to global juggernaut would return as chief executive officer, sending shares up 5%. They fell by almost as much, after Schultz said he would immediately suspend the group’s share buybacks in order to ...