The US dollar is the world's indispensable currency. The dollar's preeminent status gives the United States enormous coercive powers which it flexes in the form of financial sanctions to punish its adversaries. Over the last twenty years, Washington has relied on financial sanctions with greater...

The world economy is currently expanding strongly with upward momentum in almost every major economy. Global activity is set to expand by 3.8 percent, 0.1 percentage point above our September forecast and the strongest figure since 2011. We have also slightly revised up, to 3.9 percent, our...