Opinion

The brilliant thing about technology is how it tends to become smaller (and cheaper) over time. One glaring exception has been the most expensive piece of kit many of us buy: the automobile. Due to the popularity of bulbous, gizmo-laden SUVs and pickup trucks — some driven no further than a supermarket parking lot — modern vehicles have piled on ...

  Central bankers are no longer patient when it comes to inflation. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made that clear at last week’s meeting when he basically confirmed a March interest-rate hike. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde refused to repeat previously-made comments that a rate hike this year was “very unlikely,” and instead indicated there was “general concern” among ...

  India has surprised the payments world by announcing that its central bank will issue a digital currency as early as the coming financial year, a crucial decision that most other major economies are refusing to make in a hurry. According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, an electronic representation of India’s legal tender will give a big boost to its ...

  If you’re thinking of investing in obscure battery materials to take advantage of the energy transition, there’s one company you should be watching right now: Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. Shares in the Shanghai-listed business have soared four fold over the past three years, to the point that it’s now worth more than Nippon Steel Corp., until recently the world’s ...

This year, astronauts will likely complete construction of Tiangong, China’s answer to the International Space Station. It’s the next step in China’s progress toward becoming a major space power. It also looks like a bet that the US lacks the planning and willpower to replace its much bigger outpost in orbit. A “space-station gap” that erodes America’s traditional leadership is ...

  Giving up on a dream is hard. When it’s built on billions of dollars, it’s even harder. The tech world was locked in a debate last week about the potential for Web3, a decentralised version of the internet underpinned by digital currency that proponents would like to see replace the current, corporate-dominated Web2. Rarely will you see geeks argue ...

  By all appearances, the standoff over Ukraine remains dangerous. Although Russia continues to deny that it plans an attack, President Vladimir Putin has massed troops, hardware, weapons stockpiles and medical units on Ukraine’s borders, and continues to add to their number. The US is sending 2,700 troops to bolster Nato’s eastern flank, with at least 8,500 more ready to ...

  Unilever Plc wants to buy and sell assets to create a faster-growing consumer-products business. But this strategy of bulking up before slimming down won’t serve shareholders well. With activist Nelson Peltz building a stake in Unilever through his hedge fund Trian Fund Management LP, the prospect of breaking up the giant has come into sharp relief. That’s because its ...

Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc., the world’s biggest digital advertising platforms, once again raked in astonishing amounts of money in 2021. “So what else is new?” you’re probably wondering. Almost every year for the past decade, the companies also known as Google and Facebook set profit records. But this week marked a troubling difference. Facebook’s announcement that user numbers ...

  The Federal Reserve last month released a report about how the US might update its currency for an “age of digital transformation.” While the long overdue assessment doesn’t reach a conclusion on whether a new digital dollar would be a good idea, the way it breaks down the issues repeatedly confuses the interests of the financial sector with those ...