News from Around the World

Europe Looks Like the Real Weak Link in the Global Economy

For all the palpitations that the trade war between the U.S. and China will knock out their economies, it is Europe that increasingly looks like the biggest threat to global growth.

Europeans Going Round in Circles on IMF Job as Irritation Grows

European finance ministers will hold a call on Thursday to discuss who should take over the top job at the International Monetary Fund. The discord over who they’ll put forward could threaten the continent’s claim to the post.

EU governments have so far failed to rally behind a single candidate to replace Christine Lagarde atop the Washington-based IMF and the frustration is palpable across capitals.

EU’s High Trade Surplus With the U.S. Poses Risk to 2018 Tariff Truce

BRUSSELS—The European Union narrowly avoided a bruising economic war with the U.S. in 2018 by vowing to rebalance trade. In 2019, the EU faces headwinds to fulfilling its promise and satisfying President Trump’s demands.

Facebook Building Cryptocurrency-Based Payments System

Facebook Inc is recruiting dozens of financial firms and online merchants to help launch a cryptocurrency-based payments system on the back of its gigantic social network.

Facing harsh realities, the global development community confronts another fraught year

EL PASO, Texas — On the U.S.-Mexico border, the dysfunctional politics of aid today are starkly apparent.

Fears grow World Bank board could 'compromise' on accountability reforms

LONDON — Civil society groups have urged the World Bank’s board of directors to give its inspection panel tougher powers in order to effectively hold the institution to account, as a long-delayed review looks set to end in “compromise.”

After nearly two years of deliberations, insiders told Devex that the bank’s board plans to finalize a package of reforms to the panel ahead of the upcoming annual meetings in October.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s Approach to Interest-Rate Policy Wins Bipartisan Backing

President Trump’s relentless public criticism of the man he picked to run the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, isn’t broadly shared by lawmakers who confirmed the central bank leader to his post last year.

Fed Has Taken ‘Significant Action’ to Offset Risks to Economy, Brainard Says

NEW YORK—Federal Reserve Gov. Lael Brainard said Tuesday that three central-bank rate cuts have put monetary policy in the right place for now, in remarks that also sketched out her preferred path for updating central-bank tools to deal with a low interest-rate world.

“It will take time” for the full effects of the Fed’s rate cuts to move through the economy, Ms. Brainard said in a speech before a gathering of the New York Association for Business Economics. “I will be watching the data carefully for signs of a material change...

Fed Identifies Top Vulnerabilities Facing U.S. Financial System

WASHINGTON—The Federal Reserve identified elevated asset prices, historically high debt owed by U.S. businesses and rising issuances of risky debt as top vulnerabilities facing the U.S. financial system, according to an inaugural financial stability report released Wednesday.

Fed May Retain Bias to Hike Interest Rates: Decision-Day Guide

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says the central bank has no bias in whether its next move is up or down, but his colleagues may deliver a more hawkish message.