Most of the time, it would be very foolish to suggest that a single data release could determine a policy decision by the Federal Reserve. After all, Fed officials — board governors, regional presidents or senior staff members— pride themselves on considering a wide array of numbers and multidimensional models. Yet the jobs report for August that will be ...

  It took four years of difficult negotiations between the Colombian government and The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to strike a historic peace accord to end the 52-year-old conflict that claimed over 260,000 lives, displaced 6.8 million and left 45,000 missing. The pact will now stand the crucial public test when it goes for a referendum on October ...

  Wall Street Journal reporter Maria Abi-Habib made waves in journalistic circles last month after she posted on Facebook that Department of Homeland Security officials tried to seize her phones as she entered the U.S. at Los Angeles International Airport. What was striking about her post was that Homeland Security’s demand (which it eventually gave up) was probably lawful and ...

  The newly discovered planet Proxima b is about to change the focus of astronomy for decades to come —and maybe longer, if it reveals signs of life. The planet, some 25 trillion miles away from our own, is like a twin to Earth, but one separated at birth and living a very different kind of life. The discovery, which ...

  For a few decades, economists used to imagine how the world works, write down a theory describing their idea, and call it a day. If some statisticians came along and found some support for the theory, well, great! But usually they didn’t, and that was fine too. As one old joke put it, if an idea worked in practice, ...

  Bloomberg Stock markets across the world dipped on Monday as investors tried to second-guess the US Federal Reserve on the timing of its next interest rate hike. Tokyo, however, was the exception with stocks there soaring on a weaker yen. In a much-scrutinized speech, Fed chief Janet Yellen on Friday hinted at a US interest rate rise by the ...

  Bloomberg Gulf stocks moved little in early, thin trade on Monday as a fresh slide in oil prices and a retreat in Asian share markets kept buyers away. Dubai’s index was flat as stocks mainly traded by local investors were the top movers. Insurer Takaful Emarat Insurance gained 3.4 percent but Ajman Bank fell 1.3 percent. In Abu Dhabi, ...

Bloomberg The ruble weakened for a second day as speculation the dollar will strengthen under tighter Federal Reserve policy dimmed its carry-trade appeal and it came under the influence of weaker oil prices. Russia’s currency weakened 0.3 percent to 65.065 against the dollar by 11:54 a.m. in Moscow. The Micex index of major stocks dropped 0.8 percent after closing at ...

  Bloomberg Alarmed by a collapse in private investment in China and a surge in state spending? Calm down, say three analysts, who argue that data problems are exaggerating the trend. Investment numbers this year aren’t completely comparable with 2015 because they include firms that recently migrated from the private to the state sector, says Nicholas Lardy, a senior fellow ...

  Bloomberg Wage growth is the key to escaping deflation and realizing the promise of Abenomics, according to regional economy minister Kozo Yamamoto, a recent appointee to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet. “If you consistently raise wages every year, people will start to consume and invest,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Aug. 26. Yamamoto stressed the ...