When it comes to market volatility, don’t discount the influence of U.S. presidents. According to the Presidential Cycle Theory, the highest stock market returns are achieved in the third year of a new administration. Volatility, though, rises in the first year before peaking later on, as new policies work their way through markets. Since Donald Trump was elected in November, ...

In 1950, the year before William F. Buckley burst into the national conversation, the literary critic Lionel Trilling revealed why the nation was ripe for Buckley’s high-spirited romp through its political and cultural controversies. Liberalism, Trilling declared, was “not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition” in mid-century America because conservatism was expressed merely in ‘irritable mental gestures.’ ...

Bloomberg Qatar’s markets received a battering as four of the country’s Middle East neighbors cut ties in a row over its stance on Iran and extremists. The nation’s dollar bonds tumbled and contracts used to bet the Qatari riyal will weaken the most since 2009. More than four times the daily average of shares changed hands on the key stock ...