About a year ago, I wrote a couple of columns examining the data available in the industries responsible for moving goods from A to B. “Shipping News Says World Economy Is Toast,” was my dour conclusion. Today, however, many of those indicators are pointing to a much brighter outlook for the global economy, suggesting that reflation has indeed replaced …

  The advent of big data was supposed to usher in a more precise and rational world. Instead, it might be leading us into the swamp of “alternative facts.” Data may not lie, but they can be interpreted in ways that have the same effect. Consider President Donald Trump’s persistent claim that millions voted fraudulently in the 2016 election. In …

  It’s time to put the Korea reunification trade back on the table, but only after ditching the German blueprint. With China suspending coal imports from North Korea, Pyongyang may have lost between a third and two-fifths of its export income. One gauge of whether investors perceive the embargo to be harsh enough to destabilize the despotic Kim Jong Un …