Columns

Chancellor: Central bank coin will crush the banks

4 May 2021

To battle cryptos, digital money created by monetary authorities must protect individual liberties while minimising the state’s role in credit allocation. Doing that without disrupting commercial banking and the dollar’s hegemony will be a tall order for Powell, Lagarde and Co.

India Insight: Riding a dystopian Covid-19 wave

3 May 2021

Shaking pandemic nightmares over the past week has been impossible as the virus begins to ebb in Mumbai but drowns Delhi and beyond. Watching the human misery is overwhelming but seeing the economic consequences even as billion dollar-plus deals get done is just as affecting.

Chancellor: Regulators will kill the SPAC frenzy

20 April 2021

Like “Bubble Companies” of 1720 England, today’s blank-cheque vehicles are “carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is.” That speculative era ended when authorities stepped in. The SPAC bubble may be more rational but will meet a similar fate.

India Insight: Electric cars charge up tycoons

12 April 2021

A drive on Mumbai’s pot-holed roads in Tata’s slick Nexon EV brings to life an opportunity that disruptors Tesla, Reliance and Uber rival Ola are all chasing. Incumbents are playing down the potential, but India is set for the fast lane of the battery-powered vehicle revolution.

Chancellor: Hwang has company in Keynes and Graham

6 April 2021

Long before the failed Archegos manager was even born, Benjamin Graham, tutor to Warren Buffett, and J.M. Keynes were teaching the perils of speculating on stocks with oodles of debt. It’s worth remembering their stories as Credit Suisse, Nomura and others count their losses.

Cox: Europe really needs to get its shot together

1 April 2021

From Rome to Paris and beyond governments are imposing further travel and other restrictions, many for reasons that look more petty, political and punitive than sanitary. That’s energy better spent on the best way to exit the health and economic crisis: vaccinating people.

Chancellor: Value investing’s day is coming soon

30 March 2021

Between 1926 and 2009, lower-rated stocks outperformed more expensive “growth” shares by over 4% a year. Shifts in recent years to passive investing and tech stocks changed that. But a new study shows they outperform when stock market bubbles burst – as this one inevitably will.

Cox: Global vax race is lesson in risk appetites

18 March 2021

The widening gap between the jabbed and the jab-nots, with the U.S., UK and Israel light years ahead of Europe and Canada, isn’t just about healthcare systems. It’s about culture, too. Some societies are just better at embracing innovation and putting faith in technology.

Chancellor: A bear market in bonds is beckoning

2 March 2021

Bond bull runs tend to last for decades, making it nearly impossible to accurately predict a turning point. But recent fixed-income extremes, together with the complacent attitude of central bankers and investors, suggest history’s greatest bond boom has passed its sell-by date.

India Insight: Soy sauce flavours global finance

22 February 2021

Century-old Kikkoman recently served its signature condiment to Mumbaikars as part of a rollout campaign. This latest overseas expansion evokes its post-war U.S. strategy. Despite rampant protectionism, the Japanese company offers a glimpse of the next wave of foreign investment.