A day after a stock market rout driven by recession fears, Walmart Inc. issued a second-quarter earnings report that should provide at least a sliver of solace: Consumers have been out in force spending at its big-box stores. The mega-retailer reported that US comparable sales rose 2.8 percent from a year earlier in the quarter. That growth looks especially robust ...

Many nations in recent years are trying to wall themselves off from the rest of the world, but financial markets are immune: Money is moving freely, showing financial markets at least remain as intertwined as ever. In Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas, yield curves are inverting simultaneously. Investors, fearing that the protectionist nations will be successful against globalisation, are ...

Shouldn’t we have space colonies by now? Instead there are signs that the pace of technological progress is slowing — even as researchers pump out papers at a prolific and increasing rate. With slowing progress in computing power, medicine and agriculture, my Bloomberg Opinion colleague Noah Smith warns that the stakes could not be higher. Surely some of the fault ...