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The failure of three banks in less than a month has led the European Central Bank to wonder whether it needs fresh powers to deal with struggling lenders. Some new tools might prove useful, but they aren’t the main thing. What the ECB needs most is the will to resist political pressure and act promptly when necessary. The recent crisis ...

After years of horrific fighting in Syria — including several failed cease-fires — it’s hard to get too excited about a limited agreement to stop hostilities in a tiny corner of the country. Yet the modest ‘de-escalation’ deal in Syria’s southwest is a promising sign. IS is not yet defeated. But the cease-fire, reached by Jordan, Russia and the US, ...

At this point, blanket critiques of the economics (or “econ”)discipline have been standardized to the point where it’s pretty easy to predict how they’ll proceed. Economists will be castigated for their failure to foresee the Great Recession. Some unrealistic assumptions in mainstream macroeconomic models will be mentioned. Economists will be cast as priests of free-market ideology, whose shortcomings will be ...

Britain’s commercial property market is at the epicenter of the Brexit tremor. One of the industry’s titans, British Land Co., is fed up with investors’ reluctance to buy its shares. The company plans to buy back as much as 300 million pounds ($390 million) of its own stock, about 5 percent of its equity value. It’s a bet that the ...

If it looks as though Europe is clutching at straws to stop hundreds, sometimes thousands, of migrants from crossing the Mediterranean into Italy every day, that’s exactly what’s happening. On Monday, the European Union’s foreign ministers approved restrictions on the supply of inflatable boats and outboard motors to Libya. The boats that bring the migrants, mostly Africans these days, have ...

Bloomberg China has finally opened up its credit-rating market. But foreign credit assessors aren’t likely to waltz in, local money managers say. The challenge for rating companies, which generally charge issuers for scoring them, will be to win business from borrowers used to getting high grades from local assessors. That’s key after Sunday, which marked the day by which China ...

Bloomberg Stocks rose Wednesday on earnings strength, with the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite Index adding to Tuesday’s record highs. The euro retraced some recent gains as European policy makers gathered in Frankfurt before Thursday’s rate decision. Oil fluctuated. It was a day of reversing trends in Europe, with the common currency coming off the highest close since August ...

Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG is planning to hire more relationship managers in Saudi Arabia, joining rivals including Deutsche Bank AG in designating the country as a priority for their wealth management business. The recruitment drive comes after the Zurich-based bank established a platform allowing it to offer private banking services and products in the country, according to an emailed ...

Bloomberg Lloyds Banking Group Plc is in talks to lease a new London office with room for about 1,000 workers in an effort to consolidate its locations in the capital and help save 100 million pounds ($130 million), two people familiar with the plan said. The UK bank is in discussions with law firm CMS Cameron McKenna LLP to lease ...

Bloomberg One of Sweden’s biggest banks is targeting growth in the UK as uncertainty surrounding the country’s future amid Brexit talks proves no deterrent at all. The chief executive officer of Svenska Handelsbanken AB, Anders Bouvin, told Bloomberg TV’s Francine Lacqua he is “very firmly committed” to the U.K. market. Management will probably continue to add branches, though the CEO ...