The dollar has gained about 30 percent against a basket of other major currencies since the start of August 2011, which just happens to be the month that S&P stripped the US of its AAA credit rating. Putting aside the debate over whether credit ratings actually matter for the world’s primary reserve currency, the question at the moment is whether ...

If the European Commission’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, utters the words ‘decisive progress’ sometime in the next few days, take notice. It would be the signal that the UK and the European Union (EU) have agreed the terms of their divorce. A summit can be held and the white smoke sent up. That would be a watershed after 16 months ...

Remember we told you China’s stock-market rescuers needed rescuing? Now it looks as if the nation’s bad banks could use a bad bank. The four state-owned managers of troubled debt are in a bind, none more than China Huarong Asset Management Co., whose ex-chairman has just been accused of taking about $240 million in bribes, squandering state assets and maintaining ...