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, ...