Opinion

As the home stretch for the September 24 vote heaves into view, it’s hard not to conclude that a fourth term is Chancellor Angela Merkel’s for the taking. The polls have barely shifted over the past five weeks, with Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union-led bloc solidifying the lead it’s held since the spring and no relief for Social Democratic Party leader ...

In late July, Oaktree Capital’s Howard Marks put out a memo describing current investment trends that could turn out to be mistakes. Marks urged caution on equity valuations, low volatility, FAANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google), ETFs, interest rates, private equity, venture capital and even bitcoin. Caution alone is not an investment strategy, so Marks penned a follow-up ...

There are few economic problems more frustrating than the stubborn gaps in wages and unemployment rates between blacks and whites. Despite decades of trying to reduce or eliminate these gaps, black workers continue to experience higher unemployment rates and lower wages than whites. That’s true even after correcting for age, education and occupational differences. This is not a formula for ...

The first street protests against Emmanuel Macron’s proposed labor market reforms have been underwhelming. Several major unions stayed away. Estimates of the turn-out varied—from 223,000, according to fairly reliable police figures, to 500,000, according to the CGT, France’s biggest union, which called for the march. Whatever the real number, French unions are divided, and this helps Macron’s reform efforts. This ...

With China’s decision to phase out gas- and diesel-fuelled vehicles, the end is nearer for the internal combustion engine. For their nation to reap the full benefits of this revolution, Chinese leaders will need to continue to be bold. Nations that account for almost 80 percent of the world auto market are now planning or considering plans to end over ...

Catalonia’s separatist leaders say they will declare independence from Spain within 48 hours of victory in the independence referendum they’ve called for October 1. Spain’s highest court has ruled the referendum unconstitutional, and the government is determined to disrupt the ballot. A toxic combination of festering frustrations, nationalist myth, and mismanagement by Madrid has brought Spain to this point. Climbing ...

The competition to host HQ2, as Amazon’s planned second headquarters is called, has captivated the nation. The lucky city can expect an economic bonanza: 50,000 jobs, plus the tech ecosystem that the online retail giant’s presence will inevitably attract. But the winner doesn’t have to be a big metropolis. On the contrary, Amazon has the power to create an entirely ...

The yuan’s ascent this year has brought with it some of the usual handwringing about the impact on China’s exports. The anxiety kind of misses the point about modern China, as does much of the political conversation in America. A peek at the past week’s data from China is instructive. The really important numbers weren’t a decline in exports, but ...

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer’s decision to resign in October with nine months remaining on his term could mean the potential is high for central-bank policy to be reshaped much sooner than many investors expected. Fischer’s departure will leave four of the seven seats on the Fed Board of Governors vacant, and that doesn’t include the one held by ...

Can we get real about ‘tax reform,’ the Republican promise to enact deep tax cuts that will spur economic growth? Probably not, but let’s give it a try. For starters, we can stop calling it ‘reform.’ That’s a charged word, implying that the new tax system will be superior to the old. We don’t know that for a fact; the ...