Wall Street Journal 2018 highlights

Looking back on 2018 Dear Peter: This season offers a time of reflection on the past 12 months and preparation for the year to come. It was another hectic year of change in which events flew by at a pace that was alternately stimulating and exhausting. The U.S. economy had one of its strongest years in decades, but the stock market lost ground and grew volatile. Trade disputes crystallized around U.S. concerns about China. Worries about technology, privacy and the disruption of industry grew more pronounced, even as Amazon conducted a public search for its new headquarters. Politics continued to roil and divide Americans, from the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court hearings to midterm elections that saw a change in control of the U.S. House. The Wall Street Journal remains committed to fully reporting not just the news but the broader currents that are shaping the future. In this special edition of my daily newsletter, The 10-Point, we recap some of the significant stories and events of the year. (If you don't get The 10-Point, sign up here.) We aim to keep you armed with knowledge and insight that helps you understand the world and feeds your success. We are deeply grateful to all of you for being members of The Wall Street Journal and extend our very best wishes for a happy, fulfilling and prosperous New Year. Matt Murray Editor in Chief m.murray@wsj.com 1. The biggest U.S. story of 2018 might have been the U.S. economy. GDP looks set to come in around 3%, and unemployment as of November stood at 3.7%, with more than 2 million new jobs created this year. We explored the impact of this boom, including strong wage growth for both highly paid and low-skilled workers. The economy is on track to record its best annual growth in a decade, powered by steep cuts to business and personal tax rates, a burst of federal spending and resurgent oil and gas drilling. As the year ends, the U.S. appears to be in good shape, but some storm clouds are appearing. The question for 2019 will be whether rising interest rates, weakening foreign growth and tariffs curb the now decade-old expansion. The yield curve, in particular, has signaled a worryingly high risk of recession. Uncertainty on the debt, taxes and trade will continue to weigh on growth in 2019. 2. We focused a lot of attention this year on President Trump's efforts to reorient U.S. trade relations in the face of what he sees as imbalances that have hurt U.S. workers and industry. U.S. negotiators reworked pacts with South Korea, Mexico and Canada, though the new post-NAFTA pact must be approved by Congress. After some tussles with Japan and the EU over tariffs on imports of steel, aluminum and potentially autos, an uneasy truce prevails. The focus now is on China, the largest American trading partner. We looked at many aspects of the U.S.-China dispute, including how Mr.Trump developed his views on trade as well as how both countries allowed negotiations to take them to the brink of a trade war. Mr. Trump is eager for a deal by March 1 that lifts the cloud of tariffs. But many of his officials doubt China's willingness to make ample concessions. Of course, the U.S. has been mired in such disputes before, as detailed by this story on the rise of Japan in the 1980s. 3. Populism and discontent with the status quo continued to roil the global political scene in 2018. In the United Kingdom, the path to leaving the European Union remains unclear, as captured in this essay on Brexit. In neighboring France, pro-business President Emmanuel Macron faces continued protests that show the alienation of the less-affluent. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel faced continuing backlash over her embrace of immigration. Big elections in Latin America brought new frictions, as Mexico welcomed a new leader from the left and Brazil shifted to the right. Latin America also continues to beroiled by a staggering epidemic of violence that we documented when we examined the murder rate, gangs and extortion, and lynchings. 4. The year ends with President Trump facing investigations on several fronts. Besides the ongoing Mueller investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, there is the ongoing case led by prosecutors in New York involving payments made to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and others. The Journal published several defining stories on that case that explain the events and what's at stake. Meantime, the midterms reshaped the political landscape, as the nation's ideological divide grew deeper and a split grew in the voting patterns of those with and those without a college degree. 5. Disruption and questions about the scale and reach of tech continued to be a big story. We broke the news that Amazon would split its second headquarters and that it had chosen New York and Northern Virginia, then went behind the scenes on the secretive HQ2 search. We examined Elon Musk's own worst enemy: himself, and looked at other big players including Palantir. We revealed a massive data breach at Google+, one which led the tech giant to decide it would shut down the social-media site earlier than planned. Perhaps most memorable was Silicon Valley's confrontations on Capitol Hill over privacy and its sway over the electorate—particularly how Russia manipulated the platforms of internet giants. Lawmakers' interest in the cloud of Google, Facebook and others shows no sign of slowing. On the lighter side, Christopher Mims wrote about where you should move to make the most money, Katherine Bindley tackled the tyranny of the exclamation point in email and text messages, Seth Stevenson profiled Instagram Founder Kevin Systrom just as he left Facebook, and Joanna Stern had short, revealing chats with top CEOs—including those of Uber and AT&T—and venture capitalists with her "In The Elevator" video series. 6. Companies contended with relentless technological disruption and questions about the way they are run. Apple's expansion in Hollywood has generated some thorny situations as the company resists programming that it feels could tarnish its brand, while its growth hopes for the iPhone in India fell flat. Meanwhile AT&T, invoking a need to compete with tech giants, beat back a challenge from regulators to complete its blockbuster acquisition of Time Warner. The Journal revealed how Netflix manages it workforce—with radical transparency and candor, for better and sometimes worse. Meanwhile, companies from Facebook to Google to ESPN contended with the role of politics and activism in the workplace. Disney is wrestling with where princesses fit into its modern culture, and casino mogul Steve Wynn lost his job after the Journal exposed allegations of the mistreatment of workers. The Journal chronicled mounting tensions and revelations within Nissan before leader Carlos Ghosn was arrested and stripped of his titles. And we told the inside story of the remarkable decline of one-time business icon General Electric. 7. We wrote a series of stories looking at the retirement crisis facing baby boomers, the least prepared cohort in decades, from the retirement wealth gap to the cost of supporting adult children. One startling data point: Boomers are aging alone more than any generation in U.S. history. Meantime, columnist Jason Zweig shared what investors can learn from gamblers, and tax writer Laura Saunders suggested everyone should start paying their taxes like a billionaire. We also looked back at the financial crisis 10 years later. In another series, we explored how money managers are thinking about climate change, including how climate worries are pushing home buyers to reconsider beachfront property and driving a big bet on vineyards by Harvard's endowment (hint: they're after the water, not the wine). 8. Our coverage aimed to give readers a competitive edge at the office. We looked at bosses who waste their employees' time and steal their ideas and what to do when a new job turns out to be a bad fit. We also looked at the profound transformation in hiring, including a U.S. labor shortage so extreme that some workers are getting hired, sight unseen, after one phone interview. And now that companies are deploying artificial intelligence in the recruiting process, there's a good chance your next job interview will be with a robot. Reporter Jason Bellini immersed himself in data-science tools used to weed out job applicants, finding out whether he would make the cut after algorithms scored him in lieu of a traditional interview. 9. We ranked and took close looks at a range of things, from colleges to airports. Harvard led our Top U.S. Colleges list, but hidden gems also emerged. For the first time, we looked at institutions that offer the most bang for your buck, and also explored which schools offer the best financial future for graduates. A new list this year was Best U.S. Airports, which used 14 categories and a survey of more than 4,800 readers. Denver landed in the top spot. Another ranking worth a look is our Best-Run Companies of 2018 (Apple led the pack, followed by Amazon and Microsoft). 10. Finally, as you curl up by the fire, here are a few other thoughtful reads you might enjoy. A Saturday Essay by Steven Pinker argued the world continues to improve by almost every measure. Robert Kagan expounded on the costs of American retreat, while Jason Gay wondered whether anyone would watch football without the violence. Michael Pollan took a trippy look at the new science of psychedelics. Our Spotify IPO playlist detailed the company's rise and unusual public offering, while a stomach-churning tale revealed how a pizza night at home can cost you more in shared data than dollars spent on pies. We also tried out the hottest new workout (for your fingers), exposed the dark secret of pumpkin pie (it's made from squash), and talked with some of the saddest Santas this Christmas. Thanks for reading. If you have a moment, please let me know what you found most valuable in WSJ this year. What would you like to see more of next year? You can reach me at m.murray@wsj.com. 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