It’s tough being caught in the middle, especially when it comes to inflation. The pandemic caused a significant shift in demand toward goods and away from services and shattered the stable supply-demand balance that had spawned two decades of inflation averaging just above 2%. This abrupt change in demand patterns sparked pricing shocks that basically divided companies into winners, ...

  Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has finally delivered his message loud and clear: To get inflation under control, the central bank intends to push interest rates higher, and keep them there longer, than markets had expected. It’s a great first step. Now the Fed must follow through. In his speech at the annual Jackson Hole economics conference, Powell defined ...

  Bloomberg Walmart Inc plans to take Massmart Holdings Ltd. private and will promote the unit’s chief operating officer to head of the company as it prepares to renew its focus on South Africa. The global retail giant plans to buy all of the shares it doesn’t already own of Massmart for 62 rand ($3.65) apiece, a 53% premium to ...