Features

Breakdown: Europe’s least irrelevant election

23 May 2019

Voting for the European Parliament is typically a way for a minority of citizens to register dislike of domestic leaders. This year’s poll is no exception. Yet the results will offer clues about national politics, the power of the eurosceptics, and who gets the EU’s top jobs.

Oil market constrains Trump’s Iran war talk

21 May 2019

The U.S. president’s belligerent stance towards Tehran belies his dislike of costlier crude. While Saudi Arabia could increase output, it’s an imperfect hedge to the squeeze that would follow a conflict. Tight supply means Trump has little leeway for more than sabre-rattling.

Guest view: An EU election that really matters

20 May 2019

The vote that takes place across the European Union this week is, more than ever before, one on the bloc's future, writes Fabrizio Pagani of Muzinich & Co. And the outcome may catalyse change in countries that have an unstable political outlook, such as Italy and Britain.

Bitcoin’s latest surge lacks ground support

16 May 2019

Markets are again eyeing the digital currency after it doubled in six weeks. Yet adoption of its blockchain technology remains sluggish and applications developed by Amazon, Microsoft and others don’t need the crypto-asset. That virtually assures more bitcoin volatility.

Growth IPOs exploit total addressable credulity

13 May 2019

Uber says its “total addressable market” is $12.3 trln. Lyft is less exuberant, claiming a mere $1.2 trln TAM, while one estimate of WeWork’s global real-estate opportunity hits over $200 trln. Such heady figures show ambition, but investors need to address the built-in hype.

Review: A case for old-fashioned progressivism

26 April 2019

Joseph Stiglitz has been an intellectual leader in America’s left-wing economic establishment for decades. His latest book promotes a fairly traditional political and monetary agenda. The analysis and recommendations are mostly fine, but old nostrums may not match today’s needs.

Guest view: Halve Bank of Japan’s inflation target

26 April 2019

Consumer prices are rising more slowly than the central bank’s 2 percent goal. Aiming for 1 percent is acceptable in a country with a low jobless rate, Koichi Hamada, economic adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe argues. Any resulting yen appreciation will be manageable.

Why open banking remains a closed shop

23 April 2019

It’s over a year since the UK and EU gave tech groups access to account data, supposedly boosting competition. Yet glitches and a narrow focus on current accounts mean the measures are barely used. Change requires more tech-savvy financial institutions – or more regulation.

Zero-sum thinking is rising risk to global growth

15 April 2019

U.S. President Donald Trump is not alone in doubting that globalisation helps everyone win. Finance officials at the IMF’s spring gathering wanted more cooperation but often had self-serving ideas about what that entailed. That makes even a mild downturn trickier to handle.

Indonesia’s Jokowi can make a final term count

8 April 2019

The president is on track to win re-election. His first five years had successes in infrastructure, and reduced rural poverty. With a stronger hand, he can tackle pricklier issues hindering private investment and job creation. That will help a sluggish economy, and his legacy.