Despite record highs in the markets, bad news about consumers has been relentless: malls are closing; consumers have accumulated too much debt; incomes are stagnant. None of this bodes well for future consumer spending and economic growth. This is the established narrative — fairly straightforward, based on well-understood data. I suspect it is also wrong. What if something else entirely …

Bloomberg SoftBank Group Corp. is taking over Google parent Alphabet Inc.’s robot dreams, buying Boston Dynamics to pursue a future when more machines intermingle with humans. As part of the transaction with Alphabet, SoftBank also agreed to buy Japanese bipedal robotics company Schaft. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Boston Dynamics, bought by Google in 2013 as part of a …

Bloomberg Back in 1972, engineers working at Osram Licht AG set their sights on developing applications for infrared. The unit of Siemens AG in southeastern Germany went on to develop an expertise in the light, used in night-vision equipment and galaxy-gazing telescopes. Almost half a century later, Osram is a stand-alone lighting company and infrared is one of its fastest-growing …