Opinion

If it wasn’t clear already, it ought to be now: Etsy Inc is more than just a stay-at-home stock. The website for handmade goods became a go-to destination for face masks early in the pandemic thanks to quick pivots by its independent sellers to making this new necessity. That helped spark a rally in its shares that made it one ...

Most Republicans in Congress perennially resist increasing the minimum wage, citing economists who say businesses would have to eliminate workers and raise prices. That would stoke inflation and undermine the economy, they say. But if there was ever a period testing those assumptions and showing why raising the federal hourly wage gradually to $15 (as President Joe Biden proposes) would ...

Hoping to address supply-chain disruptions following the pandemic, President Joe Biden ordered a wide-ranging review of US reliance on foreign sources for critical goods such as pharmaceuticals, rare-earth metals and high-capacity batteries. On the most urgent matter — a shortage of semiconductors that has upended production at American automakers — he needs to think bigger. Last spring, car sales collapsed ...

We’re a little more than a year away from the first round of primary elections in the runup to the 2022 midterms. It’s far too early to have any idea what the outcome will be. But it’s not too early to start paying attention. (Sort of.) Party actors are certainly paying attention. They’re starting to make decisions that will, to ...

Home Depot Inc and Macy’s Inc can be thought of as the polar opposites of pandemic retailing: The home-improvement giant has been a chief beneficiary of the boom in purchases to make stay-at-home living comfortable, while the department store chain has been pummeled by a dearth of demand for new clothes. Though the pandemic has affected them in opposite ways, ...

While Britain’s vaccination program has been going full-tilt, life in the country remains in suspended animation. A new strategy was overdue, but which one? Many lawmakers in Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party have been demanding that he lift lockdown restrictions and reopen the economy. Infections, hospitalisations and deaths have been on a downward slope, helped by social distancing and perhaps seasonal ...

It’s less than a year since European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde was forced to backtrack after her comment that “we’re not here to close spreads” roiled bond markets. As rising US Treasury yields drive European borrowing costs higher, she now faces the prospect of having to intervene to cap outright levels. With commodity prices near an eight-year high, ...

It’s never helpful for the aviation community when fiery debris falls from the sky onto a large US city. But some perspective is warranted on this weekend’s incident involving a United Airlines Holdings Inc-operated Boeing Co 777 jet. This isn’t on par with the crisis that engulfed another Boeing plane, the 737 Max, after two fatal crashes led to its ...

Many investors have left department stores for dead. But a coalition of activists sees potential in one such retailer — Kohl’s Corp. — as it overhauls its board. A group consisting of Macellum, Ancora, Legion Partners and 4010 Capital said that it aims to install a slate of nine new directors at the struggling retailer, attributing years of weak sales ...

It was encouraging to see G7 leaders including France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Angela Merkel and the UK’s Boris Johnson all on the same page when it came to Covid-19 vaccines last week. With the US back in the fold of global health cooperation as a member of the 92-country Covax initiative, they all agreed to help distribute doses around the ...