Something unusual happened last weekend when a prominent group of Senate and House members travelled together to a big foreign-policy gathering here: They were able to stop talking about President Trump for a few days and focus on the country’s business — and even agree on some big issues. It felt like an escape from “Crazytown,” as Trump-era Washington was ...

Christine Lagarde is eager to make her mark at the European Central Bank (ECB). At the moment, we know precious little about her views on the future course of monetary policy. But one thing is clear, the new president wants the ECB to take on a bigger role in the fight against climate change. Lagarde thinks it’s possible to reconcile ...

A year ago Richard Branson was on his private island, Necker, when the former Twitter executive Adam Bain came to see him with a proposal for how to take Branson’s suborbital space travel company public. The bearded British billionaire is doubtless glad he took the meeting: After an unsteady start, Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc.’s valuation has rocketed. The stock has ...

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (MUFG) is investing more than $700 million in Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab. It’s a three-way deal in which everyone gets what they currently lack. The Japanese megabank and the Singapore-headquartered “superapp,” a one-stop online shop spanning food to finance, get to plug gaps in their businesses. They also keep one of Grab’s existing backers ...

In late 2016, Liam Fox, then the UK’s secretary of state for international trade — a new job created in the aftermath of the Brexit vote — declared the birth of a “post-geography trading world.” With technology breaking down the barriers of time and distance, there was no need to fret about the UK leaving the European Union (EU), the ...

HSBC Holdings Plc is embarking on a radical overhaul while it continues the hunt for a permanent chief executive. For investors, the strategic muddle of this bizarre situation should be at least as troubling as the stinging cuts, $7.3 billion of charges and suspension of buybacks that the bank announced with its earnings on. The London-based lender will cut as ...

Thermal coal has become a byword for the resource industry’s climate crimes. From BlackRock Inc. down, fund managers are reluctant to touch a mineral that releases more carbon dioxide than any other energy source. Large miners, from BHP Group to Anglo American Plc, are trying to dump it. Coal is also — for now at least — profitable. It’s the ...

Bloomberg Looking for the smart money in equities these days? Try taking a peek at your next-door neighbour’s portfolio. A basket of the 50 most-popular stocks among individual investors has rallied 13% this year, compared with an 8.7% gain for a gauge of hedge fund favourites, data compiled by Goldman Sachs Group Inc show. While both exceed the benchmark S&P ...

Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co is broadening its perspective on blockchain technology to show how digital money will change the financial world. The emergence of linked databases like the blockchains that enable Bitcoin and Ether to exist as well as changing consumer preferences has turned the modernisation of payments into a global theme, the New York-based bank said in a ...

Bloomberg Brigita, a director at one of China’s largest car dealers, is running out of options. Her firm’s 100 outlets have been closed for about a month because of the coronavirus, cash reserves are dwindling and banks are reluctant to extend deadlines on billions of yuan in debt coming due over the next few months. There are also other creditors ...