When UBS Group AG ditched its biggest acquisition in more than two decades with no explanation, investors and everyone else were left to guess what happened. Wall Street analysts have presumed that $1.4 billion is now just too much to pay for Wealthfront, a US digital investment adviser that won’t make profits for years. Vertigo-inducing fintech valuations have returned rapidly ...

  Apparently unhappy with the current pace of business migration out of their state, California’s legislators have come up with a good way to accelerate it. They voted recently to create a council of political appointees to set wages in the fast-food industry. The so-called FAST Recovery Act awaits Governor Gavin Newsom’s signature. He can’t squash this ill-conceived initiative quickly ...

  Are robots coming for jobs at central banks, too? Despite protestations to the contrary, the course of interest rates looks to be on autopilot in many economies. The highest inflation in a generation means officials are striding with deliberation toward a pronounced slowdown, if not global recession. If a slump is in the offing, it will be one that’s ...