Just two days after the French government’s lockdown went into effect, the bakery in my village outside Paris started rationing baguettes. The limit of five per family per day is still a lot of bread, but it is disconcerting that anyone is trying to stockpile the most perishable of loafs. I can’t judge them, however. Although I haven’t been panic-buying, ...

This should have been Ocado Plc’s crisis. The online-only grocer should have been capitalising on shoppers avoiding crowded stores. Instead, last week it temporarily closed its website, potentially upsetting its customers. Still, investors clearly believe that it will emerge as one of the winners from the rush to buy toilet paper and tinned soup. Ocado’s shares were up for the ...

In a battle reminiscent of the initially unsuccessful efforts to pass legislation to address the Great Recession in 2008, Republicans and Democrats have thus far failed to advance a $2 trillion relief bill for the coronavirus recession. The only way forward may be to let the Federal Reserve resolve this dispute. The sticking point in negotiations is a provision giving ...