Then, a fierce lobbying effort by those companies after the law was passed led the Treasury Department to carve out exceptions, resulting in tax bills that were even smaller than anticipated. Companies were effectively let off the hook for tens if not hundreds of billions of taxes that they would have been required to pay.

“It is largely the top 1 percent that will disproportionately benefit,” a tax law professor at the University of Houston said of the loopholes.

Another angle: Stocks are on the verge of having their best year since 1997. In looking to 2020, our columnist advises ignoring forecasts and investing in diversified index funds.

Inside the freeze on U.S. aid to Ukraine

A prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia on Sunday was a result of peace talks this month that otherwise failed to resolve the five-year war in eastern Ukraine involving Russian-backed separatists.

Winning American support for those talks was a major reason that President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine — who has said that ending the conflict is his top priority — had sought a White House meeting with President Trump. But Mr. Trump withheld $391 million in military aid and asked for investigations into his political rivals.

Now, three of our Washington-based reporters have the inside story of how and why Mr. Trump pursued the aid freeze over the objections of his national security advisers.