Opinion

  Investors have been anxious for some time about what rising interest rates will mean for US stocks and bonds. The Federal Reserve kicked that anxiety into a higher gear recently. It wasn’t that the Fed raised the fed funds rate a quarter point — everyone knew that was coming. The real news, as my Gadfly colleague Lisa Abramowicz pointed ...

  In times of trouble for gold — and the yellow metal has slid 11 percent over the past six weeks — India has traditionally provided a safety net. The country’s consumers typically account for between a fifth and a quarter of total global gold demand in the second half of the year, with bargain-hunting buyers putting a floor under ...

  The European Central Bank reckons that financial market uncertainty, as measured by how far stocks, bonds and the euro are from historical norms, is currently close to zero, in contrast with elevated uncertainty during the recessions of 2009 and 2013. The sheer range of known unknowns for 2017 — the outlook for China’s economy, the effect of populism on ...

  When big Midwestern states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ohio voted for Donald Trump, they chose to roll the economic dice. It’s not clear yet whether President-elect Trump will or can follow through on his promises to revamp US trade policy. It’s even more dubious whether that will have any kind of positive effect on the Midwest. But it’s ...

  Beyond cars, Japanese companies haven’t made much headway in China. The nation’s top fast-food chain is KFC, most consumer goodsare from Procter & Gamble Co., and even though cars made by Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. sell well when political frictions thaw, mainlanders’ vehicle of choice is generally a Volkswagen. But there is one exception: convenience stores. ...

  If Richard Nixon could go to China, can Rex Tillerson save Paris? It is but one of many questions, some more answerable than others, about President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of state. Unlike the president-elect, Tillerson, the chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corp., supports both the global climate-change accord forged in Paris last year and a carbon ...

  President Nicolas Maduro’s announcement that all 100-bolivar notes were being called in by the government to combat the hoarding of currency shocked Venezuelans. The largest denomination of country’s crippled currency was pulled from circulation before it was replaced by the new, larger-denomination bills. It led to chaos and confusions. Frustrated people thronged banks and ATMs to deposit the bills. ...

    The Maxforce is the European Union team that ordered Ireland to collect billions of euros in back taxes from Apple Inc., rattled the Irish government, and spurred changes to international tax law. You’d think it might have earned the name by applying maximum force while investigating alleged financial shenanigans. It didn’t. It’s just led by a guy named ...

  Last week was rough for Pokemon Go, the smartphone game Niantic Inc. released to great enthusiasm in July. On Monday, the company announced a much-anticipated update. Players were looking forward to a bevy of new creatures to catch and maybe a chance to earn double points as they had during Halloween and Thanksgiving promotions. Instead all they got were ...

  There is no mystery about Barack Obama’s greatest presidential achievement: He stopped the Great Recession from becoming the second Great Depression. True, he had plenty of help, including from his predecessor, George W. Bush, and from the top officials at the Treasury and Federal Reserve. But if Obama had made one wrong step, what was a crushing economic slump ...