Walmart Inc, one of the few big winners during the coronavirus crisis, just had a blowout quarter. The knock-on positive effects may last beyond the pandemic. Bulk buying of toilet paper, bleach and hand sanitiser helped the world’s biggest retailer increase US same-store sales (excluding fuel) by a better-than-expected 10% in the three months ended on May 1. That marked ...

After the world has finally worked its way beyond the Covid-19 crisis, it may have to confront a danger that almost everybody has forgotten: higher inflation. At the moment, it’s the last thing investors and governments are worried about, which is exactly what makes the threat so plausible. It has been decades since governments have lost sleep over high inflation. ...

At one level, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo’s decision to fire the department’s inspector general tells us nothing we didn’t already know. Even before Pompeo enabled the smearing and sidelining of US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch last year, he had made it clear that he would tolerate political attacks and even retaliation against members of the US foreign service. ...

Bloomberg Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc Chief Executive Officer Warren East’s five-year bid to revive earnings has been shattered by the coronavirus as the UK engineering giant moves to scrap 9,000 jobs and considers closing sites. The jet-engine maker will cut 17% of its workforce and boost savings goals to contend with a travel slump that’s drastically shrunk the aviation market, according ...

Bloomberg Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA dropped as much as 60% after completing a recapitalisation that hands control of the company to aircraft lessors and bondholders. Investors had in recent days stubbornly traded Norwegian’s shares far above the price of a discounted equity issue that came on top of a $830 million debt conversion. On Wednesday, the stock collapsed after the ...

Bloomberg Marks & Spencer Group Plc said it’s outperforming its worst-case coronavirus scenario in a positive sign for a UK retailer that’s going through the latest of a series of turnaround programmes. When the outbreak spread to the UK, M&S said it anticipated that clothing and home sales would fall by 70% in the four months through July, with its ...

Bloomberg Walmart Inc jumped after reporting coronavirus-related stockpiling led to a surge in quarterly sales, underscoring the company’s strong position amid widespread carnage in the US retail sector. Comparable-store sales, a key retail metric, increased 10% for US Walmart stores in the period, compared with the 8.6% estimate compiled by Consensus Metrix. That’s the fastest pace of growth in almost ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s management said the need for a multibillion-euro coronavirus bailout was becoming urgent as talks with the government in Berlin drag on. In a letter to employees, the airline warned cash reserves continued to shrink while it negotiates the 9 billion-euro ($9.9 billion) rescue package. Lufthansa’s board said it hoped the government would find the “political will” ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump delivered a pair of personal and political gestures this week that seized on his core voters’ mistrust of international institutions and skepticism of science, heightened amid the coronavirus pandemic. The president threatened to withdraw from the World Health Organization, escalating his accusation it’s beholden to China. The move came hours after he revealed he was taking ...

Bloomberg Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden won the presidential primary in Oregon on May 19, according to the Associated Press. Biden is the only candidate actively seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, but Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren as well as Representative Tulsi Gabbard were also on the ballot. Sanders, who won Oregon in 2016, endorsed Biden but is still ...