Opinion

  Donald Trump wants to be a great jobs president. But the forces that really affect employment are beyond his control — and they are working against him. Over the long run, when it comes to job growth, demographics is destiny. The Reagan and Clinton presidencies, so strong economically, coincided with the baby boomer generation being in its peak years. ...

  Evan Spiegel, Snap. Inc.’s founder, has used his knack for sensing the zeitgeist to make Snapchat a hit among young people and entirely baffling to anyone over 30. The 26-year old has detected another trend as he plots Snap’s global expansion: lower tolerance for aggressive tax planning in Europe. Snap is setting up its European headquarters in London, which ...

  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees ‘need a thorough vetting.’ He’s right, but exactly what he and his colleagues mean by that won’t be clear until the Senate’s confirmation process begins this week. So here’s a suggestion: Its hearings will best serve the public interest by striving to clarify, not politicize. The constitutional requirement ...

  Samsung is getting sucked further into the vortex of South Korea’s influence-peddling scandal. Special prosecutors summoned Jay Y Lee, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman, for questioning as a suspect in the bribery investigation. The scandal has already led to the impeachment of South Korea President Park Guen-hye. The questioning of the two top guys at Samsung Group had given the ...

  Sign up to receive the Brexit Bulletin in your inbox, and follow @Brexit on Twitter. Theresa May was keen to stress on Monday she doesn’t ‘accept the terms hard and soft Brexit.’ Investors may need to move beyond them too, after spending much of 2016 trying to guess if the prime minister would go hard (by focusing on controlling ...

  Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s push further into bricks and mortar may be just in time. The Chinese e-commerce giant is leading a bid to take department store operator Intime Retail Group Co. private, according to a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange. Alibaba and Intime’s founder Shen Guojun will pay HK$10 ($1.30) for the Intime shares they don’t ...

  Another holiday shopping season has passed, and though the rapid growth of online spending has been a well-told story for a number of years now, it’s worth highlighting the latest developments and what they mean for investors. Internet sales rose an estimated 15 percent, to 19 percent, from a year earlier, while those at traditional stores fell 10 percent ...

  The intelligence community’s allegation that Russia intervened covertly in the 2016 election describes a significant assault on our democracy. The country needs to know more: The charge needs to be followed up with an independent investigation that continues after Donald Trump becomes president on January 20. Congress should commit now to such a bipartisan inquiry. If there’s a possibility ...

  If the market performance of Samsung Electronics Co. is anything to go by, the hedge-fund Davids appear to be winning against the Goliaths of South Korea’s chaebol. Samsung shares rose 2.8 percent Monday to close at 1.86 million won, the highest since listing 42 years ago. Since a surprise $10 billion stock buyback in October 2015 that was widely ...

  So far the new Republican Congress has proved better at identifying things it doesn’t like — Obamacare, for example, or an independent ethics office — than actually getting rid of them. On one issue, however, Congress may yet get its way: abortion. Last week a House panel issued a report recommending that the federal government restrict or end medical ...