It’s a familiar phenomenon for anyone who regularly shops online: A single tube of toothpaste arrives on the doorstep with lightning speed, but it’s in a box that easily could have housed an entire medicine cabinet’s worth of toiletries. This is partly a reflection of how retailers have optimised e-commerce for convenience, making the click of a button a viable ...

There is still a lot to fix at Deutsche Bank before it can hope to get near a decent return on equity, but in one area it has made definite progress: the cost and stability of its debt. Stock market investors should care. Deutsche Bank’s funding costs matter for its revenue prospects as well as for the expense of its ...

The placement of energy pipelines has always been shaped by political considerations, often at the expense of commercial ones. But the operation of existing lines is increasingly becoming politicised, too. And that’s going to hurt everyone. There are many examples of pipeline routes being selected to serve geopolitical ends. Russia’s construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany ...