published Mar 21st 2017, 9:36 pm, by Yuki Hagiwara (Bloomberg) — North Korea may have conducted a missile test on Wednesday morning, Japan’s Kyodo News reported, in what would be the latest provocation from Kim Jong Un’s regime. Intelligence suggests that the launch in the eastern part of North Korea

published Mar 20th 2017, 2:48 pm, by Barry Ritholtz (Bloomberg View) — Here is a sentence I never thought I’d write: Art Laffer is right. I refer specifically to tax incentives. Laffer was recently asked about the mess that is Kansas, and he responded by saying Governor Sam Brownback had

published Mar 20th 2017, 4:00 pm, by Tsuyoshi Inajima (Bloomberg) — Huddled deep within Tokyo’s government district, nearly two dozen of Japan’s top oil experts pore over a problem plaguing its energy industry: how can they stop China from pushing its crude refiners into a corner? The taskforce, summoned by

published Mar 20th 2017, 7:56 pm, by Shannon Pettypiece (Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump talks a lot about how bad he thinks Obamacare has been for the country, but he has so far mounted a lukewarm defense for the replacement plan House Speaker Paul Ryan plans to put to a

published Mar 19th 2017, 3:00 pm, by David Fickling (Bloomberg Gadfly) — Resistance was futile. Comedians and environmentalists spent decades fighting the rise of the Canyonero, the Chelsea Tractor and other variants of the sports-utility vehicle. Now, the war between traditional passenger cars and their high-rise, roided-up cousins is all

published Mar 17th 2017, 3:09 pm, by Megan McArdle (Bloomberg View) — The reaction to Trump’s budget has been, let us say, loud, with headlines blaring about cuts to poverty programs and social media going viral with angry denouncements of the White House budget chief who proclaimed that cutting meals

published Mar 19th 2017, 5:00 pm, by Jonathan Ferziger and David Wainer (Bloomberg) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threat to dissolve his government for a fourth time is overshadowing a trade trip to China meant to promote deals with some of the country’s biggest corporations. Netanyahu told ministers from

published Mar 16th 2017, 6:00 pm, by Yuko Takeo and Nao Sano (Bloomberg) — Smaller Japanese companies may have more to offer investors than their big brothers, says Jesper Koll. The Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Index has climbed 12 percent so far in 2017, outpacing the Topix index’s 3.6 percent

published Mar 14th 2017, 12:37 pm, by Jason Schenker (Bloomberg View) — FinTech is now considered trendy enough to be part of the 2017 South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas — one of the most important technology and culture conferences in the U.S. — along with Kesha, “Game of

published Mar 16th 2017, 6:39 pm, by Alex Webb (Bloomberg) — Forget robotic vacuum cleaners, medical assistants or butlers, for now industrial robots represent the greatest slice of the $34 billion global robotics market. The classic industrial robot is a deaf and blind arm carrying out repetitive tasks reliably without