As the U.S. government nears yet another debt-ceiling crisis, an obscure Wall Street instrument is gaining attention for the first time in 10 years. It is basically an insurance contract known as a credit-default swap, whose price is commonly interpreted as the probability the U.S. will default on its Treasury debt. As of April 19, investors were willing to pay $9,600 a year to insure $1 million in U.S. Treasury debt, up from $1,400 at the start of the year. That is even more than during...

WASHINGTON—President Trump will nominate David Malpass, one of the World Bank’s sharpest critics within his administration, to be the next leader of the bank. The president will formally announce Mr. Malpass as the American nominee to lead the world’s largest development bank on Wednesday, according to administration officials. As the Treasury...

Since the World Bank’s creation over 70 years ago the U.S. has picked its president, using the appointment as a vehicle to advance American economic interests, power and development priorities around the globe. In exchange, Europeans have selected the leader of the International Monetary Fund. But that consensus already was fraying when Mr. Kim was picked by President Obama to run the bank in 2012. Even prior to Mr. Kim’s appointment, the bank’s executive directors, who officially make the...

“When you think about the engines of the global economy, they’re all going to lose momentum,” said Ayhan Kose, the bank economist who leads the forecasts. The World Bank forecasts slowing growth in the U.S., the eurozone and China. The bank’s forecasts add to evidence that the global economy is slowing and that the U.S. will be pulled lower by the international downdraft. The American economy had a robust 2018—indeed, the bank marked up its estimate of U.S. growth last year to 2.9% from a...

He first became president of the World Bank in 2012, appointed by President Obama, and in 2016 he was appointed to a new term lasting through 2021, meaning his successor wouldn’t have been appointed during the first term of the Trump presidency. Kristalina Georgieva, the current CEO of the World Bank, will become interim president effective Feb. 1. Mr. Kim, 59 years old, said in an email to bank staff that his “opportunity to join the private sector was unexpected, but I’ve concluded that...