Bloomberg One is China’s most reliable political springboard, the other is its largest regional economy. Both got new party chiefs in a weekend reshuffle that expands President Xi Jinping’s options for remaking the top leadership. Li Qiang, 58, a one-time top Xi aide, was appointed Communist Party secretary of the eastern financial hub of Shanghai on Sunday, the official Xinhua ...

Bloomberg Carles Puigdemont, the self-styled “president of the Catalan Republic,” failed to show his face at the government’s headquarters on Monday as Spanish officials tightened their grip on the rebel region. A few ousted Catalan officials posted pictures on social media of their arrival at work in a show of defiance after being fired by the Spanish government on Friday. ...

Bloomberg Reverend David Mwinamo spent Sunday praying with his congregation for a speedy end to Kenya’s protracted presidential election that’s cast the East African nation into crisis. Two votes since August have failed to produce consensus on who should lead the East African economic powerhouse of about 47 million people. President Uhuru Kenyatta claims a mandate from this month’s rerun ...

Bloomberg Iceland’s election delivered a path to power for the nation’s charismatic left-wing leader, Katrin Jakobsdottir, after a spate of scandals soured voters on the ruling conservatives. Saturday’s vote handed a potential center-left coalition a narrow majority, making the Left Green leader the most likely to get the nod to form a government, according to Stefanía Oskarsdottir, an assistant professor ...

The breakfasters at Bob and Edith’s Diner are too preoccupied with their tasty bacon and eggs to notice the Democratic gubernatorial candidate. Or perhaps, like all Americans who are more sensitive than oysters, they are in the throes of political exhaustion and are trying to ignore this year’s only competitive gubernatorial race. In any case, they seem unaware that the ...

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s solid election win green lights a continuation of the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) massive economic stimulus, entrenching a divide with global peers who are either heading in the opposite direction or mulling moves to do so. While growth in the world’s third largest economy has picked up, inflation remains nowhere close to the BOJ’s 2% ...

Congratulations! There is a very good chance your city is one of 237 runners-up in Amazon.com Inc.’s competition for a second North American headquarters. True, your town, city or region won’t be getting 50,000 new jobs, an estimated infusion of $38 billion to its economy or a skyline dotted with crystal biospheres. But don’t despair: This bidding process for Amazon’s ...

The Trump administration is taking aim at the Volcker Rule, one of the core elements of the Dodd-Frank financial reform, saying it’s too complex and burdensome. That’s true, but improving the rule shouldn’t mean weakening it. The rule has a vital purpose: denying taxpayer subsidy to speculation. It therefore bans speculative trading at financial institutions with access to federal deposit ...

It’s going to be Janet Yellen’s Federal Reserve no matter who is the next chair. With every headline, financial markets get jolted as investors guess whether US President Donald Trump will re-nominate Yellen to the helm of the US central bank or opt for a more hawkish successor such as Stanford University economist John Taylor. Fed chairs matter. If credible, ...

The morning after is always when reality hits. Reading the news headlines about China’s recently minted sovereign bond, one could be forgiven for thinking President Xi Jinping’s moment in the capital markets has arrived. The government’s $1 billion of 10-year notes were priced just 25 basis points over Treasuries, with the spread narrowing to less than 10 basis points Friday ...