Opinion

The Industrial Revolution was probably the most important thing that has ever happened in human history. In the space of a few centuries, much of the human race, which had long hovered on the brink of starvation, was suddenly lifted into relative security through the power of new technology. But why did this amazing explosion happen? There are many theories, ...

China’s just-completed conference touting its Belt and Road initiative certainly looked like a triumph, with Russian President Vladimir Putin playing the piano and Chinese leaders announcing a string of potential deals and massive financial pledges. Underneath all the heady talk about China positioning itself at the heart of a new global order, though, lies in uncomfortable question: Can it afford ...

What’s bad for Donald Trump could be great for European stocks. The scandal embroiling the US President should help a rally that’s seen returns from the benchmark Euro Stoxx 600 index surpass the Standard & Poor’s 500 index this year. For several years, the euro zone’s political backdrop has given global investors a reason, or an excuse, to be wary ...

If this were, say, 1974, nobody would have batted an eye at the British Labour Party’s election manifesto. But in 2017, a program of renationalization, tax hikes, wage caps and other radically socialist fare isn’t just outdated and impractical; it’s painfully beside the point. This call to return the U.K. to an era of economic dysfunction comes at the country’s ...

It was US President Donald Trump’s yet another foot-in-mouth error. The uproar over the sacking of FBI chief James Comey has hardly died down, Trump stirred the pot again. The Washington Post reported on Monday that President Trump revealed highly classified piece of information about an IS plot to Russia’s foreign minister and US ambassador. The information had been provided ...

French President Emmanuel Macron’s first trip to Berlin was a lovefest: If anyone thought German Chancellor Angela Merkel would push back on Macron’s plans to reform the European Union, they were disappointed. It’s not clear, however, if the young and impatient Macron is ready for a slow, clumsy but ultimately useful Merkel-style compromise, which appears to be in the cards. ...

Bill Winters is trying, but it won’t be easy for the Standard Chartered Plc CEO to rebuild a wealth-management franchise that became an object of archaeological curiosity on his predecessor Peter Sands’s eight-year watch. It’s not clear if it’s worth the effort. The challenge starts at the top, with acquiring clients’ wealth, and gets tougher in the middle and at ...

There was an interesting and slightly scary article in the Wall Street Journal recently, in which reporter Andrea Fuller tries to find out what fees she’s paying to the financial adviser who manages her money. At long last, after a torturous experience with the company, she finally manages to find out how much she’s paying — 1.4 percent of assets ...

Think of the intelligence community and its fragile array of secret relationships as a china shop. Think of President Trump as a bull, restless and undisciplined. For months, we’ve been watching the disastrous collision of the two. Trump’s latest self-inflicted spy scandal was the disclosure this week that he had boastfully revealed to Russian visitors his knowledge of highly classified ...

It’s now clear that cyberattacks are a fact of life for corporations and governments. What’s less clear are the winners and losers among companies focused on stopping the digital break-ins. News about the WannaCry digital extortion attack that crippled hundreds of thousands computers worldwide caused predictable stock market euphoria on Monday. As tends to happen when there is a highly ...