American politics and American business converge at the Mexican border. In the popular imagination, we find it peculiar that the crossing is viewed as some sort of national liability. The obvious rebuttal is that Mexico is now the largest US…
The Cobre mine in Panama was once the world’s largest copper mine. Not anymore. In November, the Supreme Court voided a 20-year concession renewal that had just been awarded to Canada’s First Quantum Minerals. The project was responsible for as…
In frustration over mounting challenges in the Middle East, Congress is channeling its energy into criticism of Qatar. The Gulf state is fast becoming an American whipping post for hosting Hamas leadership, not to mention its instinctual remark when Gazan…
In the UK, a Yorkshire-based recycling company tackles textile waste by recognizing used clothing as a profit center. MyGroup is now investing heavily in an approach for collecting, processing, and re-designing worn goods. This plant—and others like it—could work as…
Years of cheap money meant that family offices tended to be more tactical, than strategic, in making portfolio decisions. They might have considered an allocation to that hedge fund or this venture deal, based on affinities and relationships. Keeping up…
An unfolding policy of stationing US Marines onboard commercial oil tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz seems dangerously theatrical. The approach threatens a direct confrontation between the US and Iran. That analysis, however, may be too simple. As the world’s…
America has lost a major logistics player. The sudden closure of Yellow Corp. may be easy to decipher in context, what 30,000 now-former employees will do for household income is less obvious. Perhaps the only good news in this story…
The Russia-Africa Summit on July 27-28 was an awkward affair. For some analysts, the event spotlighted how isolated Putin has become. That may not be entirely true. The raw economic strength represented in St. Petersburg—including heads of state from all…
Some investors celebrated the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate hike on July 26 with the view that it may be the last increase for this cycle. We are not so sure; the US is a complex economy. California may be backpedaling because…
Brazil is an economic powerhouse. Still, its global influence wanes as economic trends elsewhere mean its total share of the world economy is declining. Brazilian President Lula da Silva seems intent on shifting that sentiment, at least in diplomatic theater.…