Well, we just kicked the can down the road again — to quote former President Barack Obama, who developed into an expert can-kicker during his eight years in the White House. The bipartisan budget agreement reached last week by Congressional leaders is nothing if not a huge evasion of responsibility. Neither party will make the unpopular choices necessary to pay ...

It’s time for markets to grow up. An important element in the current volatility tantrum is the return of inflation. Last Friday’s US payroll report kicked it off, and the struggle at this week’s 10-year and 30-year US Treasury auctions suggests fixed-income investors don’t spy an end to the rout. This means the next key event for them is U.S. ...

In her final hours in charge at the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen raised an issue central to the health of the US financial system: Can banks grow too big and complex to manage? Wells Fargo, the case in point, certainly makes you wonder. And it isn’t alone. The world’s biggest financial institutions run myriad lines of business, with hundreds of ...