Adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, have a bad reputation with homebuyers who have long viewed them as a dangerous financial trap. But with rates on fixed-rate mortgages more than doubling in the past year, some borrowers are taking a second look. The idea of paying less now in exchange for the risk of paying more later seems reasonable if you ...

  The UK takeover regime isn’t kind to private equity buyers. It got even tougher after Kraft Foods Inc.’s bitter acquisition of rival confectioner Cadbury in 2010. But are its rules too restrictive? If the leveraged finance market bounces back, UK stocks should be a prime hunting ground for the private equity industry. Yet local M&A rules are often seen ...

  Russia’s efforts to use natural-gas exports as a geopolitical weapon present Europe with a challenge: When faced with such a clear and present threat, can it muster the solidarity required of a true union? Policymakers might be coalescing around what they see as an adequate plan. They should be more ambitious: Europe needs a permanent solution to its chronic ...