It’s no surprise that for US allies in Asia, “Top Gun: Maverick” is the year’s most-watched American movie, topping the box office in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. The simple tale of US might and gumption against an evil faceless opponent certainly resonates in a region that’s facing intensifying threats. But no one is placing bets that Tom Cruise ...

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at last week’s central banking conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, was brief — but financial markets took notice. The S&P 500 fell sharply as investors adjusted their thinking on how tough the Fed was willing to be to get inflation back under control. Powell underlined that restoring price stability is the Fed’s “overarching focus” ...

  Corporate junk bonds in the US are paying investors a paltry premium for the risk of holding them into a looming recession. Either spreads need to widen or the recession clouds need to vanish, but something’s got to give. Consider the first possibility, the base case. Junk spreads typically track recession risk closely, and the economic gloom has been ...