Pressured by plunging oil prices and costly wars in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia moved to stamp out speculation that it might be forced to break the link between its currency and the dollar. Authorities this week ordered banks to...
Are equities always the best investment for the long run? It is the message that is usually sold to individual investors. The message is based on theory; equities are riskier than government bonds so should offer a higher return (the...
A high-profile Bitcoin developer has said the crypto-currency has failed and he will no longer take part in its development. Mike Hearn, a Zurich-based developer and long-time proponent of Bitcoin, surprised many this weekend when he published a blog calling...
Worries about the Chinese economy continue to dog global markets. Famous economists and investors are making grim predictions. Is 2016 the year of doom and gloom? Having trouble? Click here » The Economist
...Many investors blame the escalating weakness in corporate credit on falling commodity prices. But that’s only one piece of the story, one that ignores a collapsing credit cycle amid a much broader global slowdown. Standard & Poor’ said on Tuesday...
ONE of the many oddities of the topsy-turvy world of Chinese finance is that red is green and green is red. In most countries “going into the red” means losing money; stocks that are falling are often depicted in red...
The Paris agreement will not stabilise the climate; but the efforts it makes possible could still achieve a lot. “The test of a first-rate intelligence”, F. Scott Fitzgerald, a sometime Parisian, once wrote, “is the ability to hold two opposing...
Elizabeth Holmes’s blood-testing ambition has long collided with technological problems. The night before a big meeting with a Swiss drug company in 2008, Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes and a colleague sat in a Zurich hotel, sticking their fingers with...
Our favorite work of the year — so far. Bloomberg Business
...For decades, the word “market” has been a misnomer for global trade in oil. Not only has the business been manipulated by an international cartel, OPEC, with varying degrees of success. Since 1975 America has also distorted it by banning...
Should the Fed raise rates? On December 16th, the Federal Reserve, the American central bank, will take what could be a historic decision: the first interest-rate increase since before the iPhone was invented. The last time the Fed raised rates...
As oil crashed through $35 a barrel in New York, some producers were already living with the reality of much lower prices. A mix of Mexican crudes is already valued at less than $28, an 11-year low, according to data...
Investors who piled into the riskiest corners of the credit markets during seven years of rock-bottom interest rates are getting a reminder of how hard it can be to cash out. With outflows from U.S. high-yield bond funds running at...
Fairy tales are where you find them, but any number seem to begin in the dark German woods where Angela Merkel spent her childhood. The girl who would grow up to be called the most powerful woman in the world...
Passing through the Suez Canal became easier earlier this year, thanks to an expansion completed in August. Now it is about to become a little bit more complicated. Transit fees for the canal are denominated in Special Drawing Rights, a...
