Universities as supermarkets
Sometime ago I was sitting with a deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of Pakistan when a vice chancellor (VC) of a public-sector university came to see him. After the…
Bond market’s newfound economic optimism may be shortsighted
In recent weeks, US bond markets have bought into the prospect of a “soft landing,” prompting some investors to question whether they are ignoring the risk that companies will run…
Misplaced mercantilism and the case for domestic markets
We are being told that the economy of Pakistan is in absolute free fall. Allegedly, the dominos of economic doom are in motion, and despite all our countless stopgap measures,…
Wall Street weighs job cuts as deals slide in battered markets
Wall Street bosses are in a bind about whether to cut investment bankers or keep them on staff in hopes of a recovery from a brutal first half. With risks…
Women-led market
TRADITIONALLY, women in rural Pakistan are the main actors in not only poultry farming but also rearing of livestock — goats, sheep, buffaloes and cows. They tend to them by…
Pandemic’s second wave and oil markets
For an industry still heavily scarred by the events of March and April, when prices went into free-fall as widespread lockdowns cut global oil consumption by around a quarter, the…
In China, stocks-for-loans under stress as markets slide
A sharp drop in mainly small-cap Chinese stock prices has exposed a new and potentially destabilising pocket of leverage in the world's second-largest economy. The value of shares that shareholders…
As investors look to Jackson Hole, options markets see ‘a lot of nothing’
Traders in the US equity options do not expect the Federal Reserve’s symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming later this month to spark big moves in stocks, even as a focus…
Issues in farm economy and related markets
‘Before the coronavirus outbreak, food insecurity was already a severe problem. More than 820 million people – one in every nine – do not have enough to eat. Of these,…
Marketing in a digital world
The idea of getting customers to subscribe to your products or services has to be one of the biggest factors a business considers when setting up a business. It is…
