On global climate change, I’ve changed my mind — just slightly. I’ve written about this issue for more than two decades, and my theme has been monotonously consistent. As a starting point, I’ve accepted the prevailing scientific view that man-made greenhouse gases contribute to global warming. But I’ve been routinely pessimistic and skeptical that we can do much about it. ...

Greece’s prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, survived a confidence vote in parliament and seems likely to obtain legislative approval for his highly controversial deal with neighboring Macedonia. Now he can contemplate his legacy, as he serves out what are likely to be his last months in office. The vote’s outcome was no surprise. Tsipras likely was certain of victory before the ...

New year, new you. And Associated British Foods Plc’s Primark is fully behind the January fitness fad. Strange, then, that investors are staying home on the sofa. Leggings, lightweight jackets and the like are on offer in colors and designs that wouldn’t look out of place in upmarket athleisure specialist Sweaty Betty. But Primark’s leggings are cheaper by a long ...

US President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un have agreed to meet for a second summit at the end of next month. Agreeing to this was probably a mistake — but to have any hope of producing results, Trump will have to prepare much more carefully than he did last time. There’s been virtually no progress in ...

One year in, how’s President Donald Trump’s mission to save the US steel and aluminum sectors going? Judging by the stock prices of metal producers, you could be mistaken for thinking he’s trying to destroy the industry instead. The aggregate market capitalisation of the seven major US primary steel and aluminum producers — Nucor Corp., US Steel Corp., AK Steel ...

France has done the right thing by paving the way for Carlos Ghosn’s succession at the top of automaker Renault SA. Whatever the merits of the legal case against the CEO in Japan, he remains in custody, has been denied bail, and his trial could be at least six months away. This is not an executive who’s able to properly ...

Hello, Amazon? Are you there? If ever there was a moment for an international retailing behemoth to pick up a British store chain, this is it. While Christmas trading didn’t turn out to be the bloodbath that many — including myself — had feared, valuations remain in the doldrums. The FTSE 350 General Retailers Index has bounced since the end ...

Bloomberg Stocks dropped on Tuesday alongside US futures as a cloudy outlook for trade and growth continued to weigh on risk appetite. Treasuries climbed and the yen strengthened. Futures on the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq all pointed to a softer open a day after American markets were shut for a holiday. EBay Inc bucked the trend, surging in early ...

Bloomberg The pound gained for a second day as upbeat UK employment data buoyed investor sentiment that was already underpinned by optimism the nation will avoid a no-deal Brexit. Sterling rose above $1.29 as official data showed wage growth in Britain was the fastest since the financial crisis during the three months through November, while the unemployment rate declined to ...

Bloomberg PetroChina Co brushed off a $1.5 billion writedown from the disposal of some assets as it estimated full-year net income more than doubled last year thanks to higher crude prices. China’s biggest oil and gas producer said net income could have jumped as much as 132 percent in 2018, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, ...