The hunt for a scapegoat for the collapse of the merger talks between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Renault SA is in full cry. There’s furious leaking on all sides: The Italians blame the French, the French blame Fiat and the reluctance of Renault’s partner Nissan Motor Co Ltd. to bless the deal. A lot of people on both sides ...

Believe what you want to believe: Japan’s machines are humming, or heading for trouble. There’s support for both points of view. For months, Japan watchers have been waiting for business activity to drop. However, core machine orders, which typically point to future spending, have continued to rise, as have industrial output and capital spending. Machinery orders in April came in ...

Theresa May will be remembered as the prime minister who couldn’t deliver Brexit. But she also leaves her successor another testing legacy: her failure to confront what she has called the UK’s “burning injustices.” Britain is a rich country by any definition, but it scores badly on a range of social measures. Income inequality is higher than in many comparable ...

A report in the New York Times that the US Cyber Command has intensified secret efforts to hack the Russian power grid is less interesting for its content than because of US officials’ apparent cooperation in publicizing the activity. Like any power grid undergoing a digital transformation, the Russian one is quite hackable – but why would the US want ...

Even as the fate of India’s shadow banks swings precariously between unexpected defaults and sudden downgrades, there’s trouble brewing in another unlit corner of finance. Exotic funds, designed for wealthy investors, have grown to $40 billion from nothing in just seven years, expanding by 71% in the 12 months through March. Since September, when the surprise bankruptcy of infrastructure financier ...

If it’s true that all political lives end in failure, then the same could be said for business. Carsten Spohr became Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s chief executive in 2014, made an impressive start, and had his contract extended to the end of 2023. He may regret signing up for that long. The German airline’s shares tumbled 12 percent on June 17after ...

Bloomberg Financial markets have gotten used to the Federal Reserve adjusting its benchmark interest rate in small increments. They might want to be ready for a change. While no move is expected as officials gather this week, economists and investors generally agree the Fed is going to cut rates this year. The last two times the Fed began an easing ...

Bloomberg Mario Draghi nudged the European Central Bank (ECB) closer to pumping more monetary stimulus into the economy, highlighting that “lingering” risks are strengthening the case for action. The ECB president said at the institution’s annual forum in Sintra, Portugal, that “additional stimulus will be required” if the economic outlook doesn’t improve. He said the commitment to keeping interest rates ...

Bloomberg Malaysia’s large banks have the highest board representation for women across the Southeast Asian region, outpacing peers in Singapore and the Philippines where the proportion is below 15 percent. Women make up more than 30 percent of the boards of top Malaysian lenders, compared with only 9 percent on average in the Philippines, and 13 percent in Singapore, according ...

Bloomberg Australia’s central bank is likely to lower interest rates again to drive increased hiring. The central bank aims to boost households’ confidence that inflation will return to target. The Reserve Bank made the comment in minutes of its June 4 policy meeting, when it eased the cash rate to 1.25 percent in the first reduction in almost three years. ...