Emerging from nearly a year of battling an economy dragged down by Covid-19 and a rickety financial system, Beijing is realising what the most important collateral damage has been: consumers. Without their wallets and balance sheets, China’s economic blueprint for the next five years won’t work. That explains why authorities have been talking up consumer protection, household leverage and the ...

In January, Joe Biden will take charge of an executive branch left in woeful disrepair. Practically every important federal institution has been scorched by four years of sustained assault by his predecessor — none more so than the State Department. President Donald Trump has damaged American diplomacy in word and deed. His secretaries of state, first Rex Tillerson and then ...

Bloomberg Black Friday — once the ultimate US shopping day — is being disrupted like so much else in these Covid-19 times, with consumers largely avoiding malls and instead flocking online. What that means for overall sales for the holiday season remains to be seen, but it’s becoming clearer that the pandemic has only accelerated the move away from big ...