Opinion

  A lot of companies view revolving credit lines the way some rock climbers view harnesses and ropes: They would rather not use them, but they’re glad to have them when trouble strikes. So it’s worth paying attention when a corporation starts withdrawing a substantial amount of money under these prearranged agreements with banks. This can signal a significant problem. ...

  Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been trying hard to combat his nation’s alarming demographic decline: promoting robots and other productivity-enhancing technology, bringing more women into the workforce, even opening the door a bit wider to foreigners. It’s plain, however, that he needs to try harder still, especially when it comes to immigration. Japanese companies already report they can’t ...

  British Prime Minster Theresa May shocked the UK by calling a general election for June 8. She said the election would strengthen the government’s hand in negotiations to leave the European Union. She dismissed criticism of her move to send voters back to polling booths for the third time in two years, after a May 2015 national election and ...

  Let’s hope US policy makers have woken up to the fact that the country is in a period of sclerosis, where its economic institutions seem to be inefficient along a variety of fronts. When things aren’t working, one good idea is to look around and see which countries are doing better. Right now, Japan is one such country. But ...

  There’s an expanding bad-debt crisis in India. There’s also a related spectacle surrounding the owner of a failed airline with $1.4 billion in unpaid loans. No prizes for guessing which makes for healthier television ratings. Neither the Indian government nor the main opposition party lost much time in taking credit after Vijay Mallya, a business tycoon and founder of ...

  Amazon and Wal-Mart might once have existed in parallel universes, but these days they’re in a price war. Both giants are now seeking to make acquisitions to compete on the other’s turf. Amazon.com Inc. is going to have a significant brick-and-mortar presence. The only remaining question is when and how. Perhaps it’ll be a new high-tech store created by ...

  Saudi Arabia blazed the global debt capital markets with its first-dollar denominated Islamic bond offering. The $9 billion bond attracted more than three times as many bids as were offered. The money will provide additional breathing room to the government’s finances, just as the $17.5 billion international bond debut last year, which was the largest of its kind in ...

  A business cycle upswing is giving the impression that China’s financial vulnerabilities are also on the mend. Yet the evidence in support of this cheery view is patchy at best. Since financial booms and busts play out over a far longer horizon and have a bigger amplitude than more frequent waves in corporate sentiment, a dose of skepticism about ...

  On one issue, at least, President Donald Trump has united the country: More than 70 percent of the public — across political parties — oppose a bill he signed that rolls back rules protecting online privacy. Unfortunately, it’s an issue on which Trump and the Republican Congress happen to be mostly right. The rules in question, which hadn’t yet ...

  Hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli prisons launched a hunger strike demanding better conditions, more contacts with relatives, and to end Israel’s practice of detentions without trial. Thousands staged solidarity march in West Bank and Gaza. The hunger strike was led by Marwan Barghouti, who was arrested during Palestinian uprising in 2002 and convicted on multiple counts of murder for ...