For years, the company once known as British Petroleum vowed to move “beyond petroleum.” Now, it’s moving beyond British. By naming American Bob Dudley as the new CEO Tuesday, BP’s board has shifted the company’s focus squarely on America, which remains the company’s best hope and its biggest failure. Dudley ran BP’s nettlesome joint venture in Russia, and he was considered for the CEO job three...

Law #1: All bubbles need a catalyst, like a stone to throw into a still pond. Bubbles start in “good times”, typically GDP is going up and people have money to spend and invest, so money starts chasing assets and if it takes time for the supply of those assets to increase, prices go up. For example, the fundamental price of housing long-term is exactly equal to nominal GDP per house divided by a function of long-term interest...

Sterling hit a two-month high against the euro on Thursday as investors welcomed the Bank of England’s decision to cut UK interest rates to a record low. The Bank, as expected by most forecasters, lowered UK interest rates by 50 basis points to 1 per cent after its policy meeting, warning that the global economy was in the throes of a severe and synchronised downturn. But the pound advanced as the Bank also stated that the recent fiscal...