Bloomberg UK businesses face a 50 billion-pound ($68 billion) “bombshell” unless a series of government pandemic aid programs are extended, the Labour opposition warned. With many firms running out of cash, the party urged Chancellor Rishi Sunak not to wait until his budget on March 3 to prolong business rates relief, a sales tax reduction and his flagship furlough program. ...

Bloomberg French economic activity is running at 5% below pre-crisis levels as the government holds off from imposing a full Covid-19 lockdown beyond the current curfew and closures in some sectors, the Bank of France said on Tuesday. After dipping to 7% below normal during November’s lockdown, the economy improved somewhat in December and is expected to remain steady through ...

Bloomberg Optimism among US small businesses falls in January to an eight-month low as the outlook for economic conditions deteriorated sharply. The National Federation of Independent Business index of sentiment falls by 0.5 points to 95, the third-straight decline, the group said. The figure was weaker than the median projection of 96.8 in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Weak consumer ...