Heat and light The Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family can lay claim to quite a few European thrones through its history, and members of the clan still occupy them in Britain and Belgium. Last week, one of their number welcomed the US president to Windsor Castle to celebrate her
Signs of spring The benefit of hindsight is meant to be educational, but it can also provide some satisfaction. In mid-February, the MSCI World Index hit its lowest point since 2013, as fear spread and volatility spiked. Last week, it finally ended above where it had started
The wrong chemistry Between the two of them, Pfizer and Allergan can boast some 235 years of accumulated history. Their alliance was certainly not to be a marriage of equals. Last year, Pfizer was ranked the second-biggest pharmaceutical company in the world (Allergan ranks somewhere in
Shifting sands The Budget has long been something of a set piece, complete with a Riverdance line-up of Treasury advisors outside 11 Downing Street, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer holding the red box out at arm’s length for the cameras. This year, George Osborne needed the
Guns and steel China may have been producing steel more than 2,000 years ago, but it was in Britain that modern steelmaking began in the 1850s. Last week in Mumbai, the board of Tata announced its decision to sell off Britain’s largest steel producer, the direct
Questions of union After 58 years as de facto capital of the European Union and symbol of Europe’s postwar peace, Brussels last week suffered the worst terrorist attack in its history. Newspapers, politicians and markets were all quick to respond. The price of gold, that favoured haven
Negative money At some point, even the best magician runs out of tricks. In their quest to spur growth and inflation, central bankers in some of the world’s more sluggish economies have been turning in recent months to untried techniques and extreme measures. Thus almost a
Tale of two economies It might not yet be the best of times for the US economy, but data released last week persuaded markets that there was no longer any need to expect the worst. One of the most common prefaces to a recession is a tidal
Sound as a pound? Last week the world’s oldest surviving currency suffered its worst beating against the dollar in seven years. Sterling, the 1,200-year-old Anglo-Saxon currency, has shown itself to be highly vulnerable to developments in the UK’s relationship with Europe, at least in the short
Add and divide On Friday last week David Cameron secured a compromise deal with the European Union that enabled him to announce a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union, to be held on 23 June. This was the cue for a familiar sight in British
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