The Federal Reserve acts again: can it soothe the markets?
Mar 16th 2020Central banks are not known for their spontaneity. They do not tear up their calendars lightly. And when they do,…
No one is likely to win the oil-price war
Mar 14th 2020SAUDI ARABIA and Russia are used to fighting their enemies via proxies. But the oil-price war that has broken out…
Throughout history, pandemics have had profound economic effects
Mar 14th 2020PANDEMICS ARE the inevitable attendants of economic progress. Interconnected trade networks and teeming cities have…
Yes Bank’s rescue deepens worries about Indian finance
INDIA, WHICH has few declared cases of covid-19, has not escaped the turmoil in global markets. On March 9th its stockmarkets…
Entering a bear market
Mar 14th 2020IT MAY HAVE been lost amid the stockmarket panic but on March 9 America’s bull market turned 11 years old. Two…
The challenge of addressing covid-19’s economic effects in Europe
Mar 14th 2020FEW PEOPLE would wish to trade places with Giuseppe Conte, Italy’s prime minister. As covid-19 spread he put the…
Corporate bonds and loans are at the centre of a new financial scare
Mar 12th 2020OVER THE past decade officials—and some bankers—have tried to redesign the financial system so that it acts as…
A spike in the dollar has been a reliable signal of global panic
Mar 12th 2020THERE ARE two types of sellers in financial markets. The first kind sell because they want to. They may need cash…
New trade barriers could hamper the supply of masks and medicines
Common-sense curbs to deal with covid-19? They may be costlyMar 11th 2020IT IS BAD enough when individuals stockpile pasta and…