Criminal investigations do not usually start with tweets. They very rarely start with tweets by government officials asserting someone’s guilt before a charge has even been laid. That, however, is how the case against Lisa Cook, a governor of the Federal Reserve, began on August 20th, when Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance…
When President Donald Trump stood outside the White House on April 2nd and revealed his “Liberation Day” tariffs, all hell broke loose. The “reciprocal” levies threatened to break financial markets, as well as scrambling international commerce. Thankfully, Mr Trump quickly backed down, cutting tariffs to 10% for most countries on April 9th and doing the…
For all the power it wields over the global economy, the Federal Reserve projects remarkable cool. Whereas rate-setters at other central banks frequently disagree with each other over the direction of monetary policy, Fed policymakers tend to stick together. That serenity is now being ruptured, just as President Donald Trump ramps up his attacks on…
EVER SINCE President Donald Trump unveiled his Liberation Day tariffs in April, the world’s biggest trading relationship had been on the rocks. The European Union swung from trying to sweet-talk America into making a deal, to threatening retaliation. On July 27th dealmaking won out. At his golf course in Scotland the president and Ursula von…
An investor’s desire to minimise his dues is nothing new. “The avoidance of taxes”, said John Maynard Keynes, “is the only intellectual pursuit that still carries any reward”. What is new is the scale and speed at which the desire is transforming financial intermediaries, wealth management and even the notion of passive investing. Once the…