Besides default, perhaps the biggest risk to holders of euro-denominated bonds is currency convertibility. It isn’t talked about all that often, but it hangs over the market like a black cloud. The fear is that some geopolitical event causes a member of the euro zone to decide to exit the union and investors holding sovereign bonds denominated in euros are …

Lost in the debate over how best to insure Americans against the high cost of health care has been the question of how to bring that cost down. That’s a shame, because keeping the cost of medical treatment from rising so fast is just as important as providing Americans access to it. Promising efforts to get a grip on medical …

On October 7, Russian President Vladimir Putin turned 65. As of this year, this is the maximum retirement age for Russian civil servants, which can only be raised in special cases. Though Putin, as an elected official, is not subject to this law and has indicated that it’s too early for him to retire, he reaches this milestone in a …