Houses are made of bricks and mortar, but a builder’s key raw material is land. Once, its value roughly tracked house prices. But that relationship has broken down, much to the benefit of the large homebuilders. In conversations with analysts and investors, developers like Taylor Wimpey Plc, Crest Nicholson Holdings Plc and Redrow Plc have continually alighted on the same ...

Soon, Japanese banks may no longer be the cheapest in the world. The yield-curve control undertaken by the nation’s central bank has done lasting damage. Data compiled by Bloomberg on financial institutions with a market capitalization of $10 billion or more show those from Japan are the biggest value traps, trading at just 0.69 times book, despite having an average ...

Americans have never been more addicted to devices. Thanks to the mobile revolution initiated by the iPhone, the US alone is home to 238 million mobile phones and 140 million tablets that are rarely shut down. And their numbers are growing, thanks to a perpetual upgrade cycle and demand for new features. For environmentalists, it’s a looming electronic nightmare in ...