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Congress returns to Washington this week to a meat grinder: In short order, members must raise the debt ceiling, pass a budget (to avoid a government shutdown) and deliver emergency relief to the victims of Hurricane Harvey. So it might seem unrealistic to suggest that they strike a bipartisan deal on child-care tax credits. Yet this is precisely the kind ...

Since December 2015, China’s government has been talking up what it calls supply-side reform. State media says the goal is “stimulating business through tax cuts, entrepreneurship and innovation while phasing out excess capacity.” That sounds reasonable. In reality, though, supply-side reform is doing almost nothing to reduce capacity, and may well be worsening the inefficiencies that are holding back China’s ...

The sheer nastiness of Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton TV debates and the deft verbal fencing of French presidential candidates are still fresh in watchers’ memory. No wonder many were disappointed by Sunday’s ‘TV duel’ between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Social Democratic Party leader Martin Schulz, which Merkel won, according to polls. To many, the tame debate looked more like a ...

Nothing makes a tech company quake in its boots so much as the sight of Apple Inc. marching into its territory. It’s a big deal for Western Digital Corp. not only to have Apple throw its hat in the ring of the Toshiba Corp. chip fight, but to have that name brandished like a weapon. Foxconn Technology Group, long a ...

When you ask someone in the financial industry how his job creates value, he’ll often answer that it enhances liquidity. Why are high-frequency trading and other forms of algorithmic trading good for markets? Liquidity, we’re told. What’s the potential harm from the Volcker Rule, which prohibits banks from engaging in proprietary trading? It could decrease liquidity. There are endless academic ...

Bloomberg The dollar gained, Treasuries retreated and stocks advanced as an appetite for risk returned after an anticipated North Korean missile test failed to materialise and Hurricane Irma struck the US with less force than feared. Gold, the yen and the Swiss franc all fell. Bloomberg’s dollar index was headed for the first increase in eight days, while US stocks ...

Reuters Qatar’s stock market sank to a 19-month low on Monday while other regional bourses were mixed in mostly quiet trade, although Saudi British Bank surged in Riyadh. The Qatari stock index dropped 1.6 percent to 8,532 points, its lowest finish since January 2016, in a broad sell-off that saw declining stocks outnumber gainers by 27 to nine. Qatar National ...

Bloomberg IndusInd Bank Ltd., the Indian lender pursuing a takeover of Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd., is negotiating a potential deal valuing the microfinance provider at about $2.2 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter. IndusInd, backed by the billionaire Hinduja brothers, is discussing a valuation of around 1,040 rupees per Bharat Financial share, according to the people. That ...

Bloomberg China plans to ban trading of bitcoin and other virtual currencies on domestic exchanges, dealing another blow to the $150 billion cryptocurrency market after the country outlawed initial coin offerings. The ban will only apply to trading of cryptocurrencies on exchanges, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the information is private. ...

Bloomberg Traders who have placed bullish bets on the pound may find their nerves tested this week, with sterling likely to buffeted by everything from Brexit to the Bank of England. Sterling posted its biggest weekly gain versus the dollar since June, benefiting from a falling dollar after dovish comments from Federal Reserve officials and ongoing tensions with North Korea. ...