Barack Obama and Xi Jinping have obvious disagreements over how to handle North Korea’s illicit weapons program. China is angry about U.S. plans to deploy advanced missile defenses in South Korea to counter the threat, while Obama faces pressure to sanction Chinese banks and companies that help sustain Kim Jong Un’s nuclear ambitions. But the two presidents still have ...

  After the US and China ratified the Paris climate accord, there is growing optimism that the agreement can take effect by the end of the year. It has to be signed by 55 countries responsible for 55% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. And ratification by the two economic giants — who emit 38% of the climate-harming GHSs — is ...

  In recent years, digital currencies have shown considerable promise. Research by the People’s Bank of China suggests that the best way to take advantage of these innovations is for central banks to take the lead, both in supervising private digital currencies and in developing digital legal tender of their own. At the PBOC, this effort is underway. In approaching ...

If you believe that government meddling in financial markets was responsible for the last recession and the lackluster recovery, you might be right. But probably not in the way you think. Imagine what would happen in a free market if everyone suddenly decided that future economic growth would be very slow. The price of safe assets such as U.S. government ...

Apple’s legal defense against European Commission charges of improper tax avoidance is yet to be heard. But even based on the company’s own reporting, Apple’s claim that it has always paid all the taxes it owed is disingenuous. The recent ruling — forcing Ireland to hit the iPhone maker with 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in back taxes — throws ...

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabian stocks led advances across most Gulf markets as investors speculated companies in the kingdom stand to benefit if oil-producing nations agree an output freeze. The Tadawul All Share Index added 1.3 percent to 6,099.03 on Sunday in Riyadh, with Al Rajhi Bank contributing the most to the gain. Bloomberg’s index of the largest and most liquid ...

  Bloomberg Emerging-market currencies rose from the lowest levels in a month and stocks rallied as data showing slower-than-forecast U.S. employment growth reduced the odds that the Federal Reserve will move quickly to raise interest rates, propping up demand for riskier assets. An MSCI Inc. index of developing-nation exchange rates rose 0.3 percent, ending a four-day losing streak. The equity ...

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, raised pricing for October oil sales to Asia and the U.S. in a sign of strengthening demand. State-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Aramco, increased its official selling price for Arab Light crude to Asia by 90 cents a barrel, to 20 cents below the regional benchmark, it said Sunday ...

  Bloomberg Iran is ready to support any decision to help restore balance to the oil market after it regains its pre-sanctions market share, the Iranian oil ministry’s SHANA news agency reported on Saturday, quoting a minister. Algerian Energy Minister Nouredine Bouterfa said after talks in Tehran with his Iranian counterpart, Bijan Zanganeh, that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting ...

  AP Billboards and street signs have gone up across Egypt’s capital extolling austerity and hope, part of a pro-government public relations campaign aimed at preparing Egyptians for sweeping economic reforms. The advertising blitz follows last month’s provisional agreement by the International Monetary Fund to give Egypt a $12 billion loan over three years to help President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s government ...