Bloomberg Two years into the pandemic and the airline industry remains on standby for the return of business travelers. Expectations that expense account-wielding road warriors would follow on the heels of leisure travelers have yet to materialize, and the outlook remains hazy with the spread of the latest coronavirus variant. That’s kept carriers’ profits in check and raised questions …

  Bloomberg In the eyes of Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc., consumers are learning to live with the coronavirus pandemic. Both networks said that spending on their cards surged to a record in the final three months of last year, even as the highly contagious Omicron variant disrupted travel and sparked fresh rounds of lockdowns. Spending on Visa’s network soared …

  Bloomberg The Bank of Japan (BOJ) should keep its inflation-targeting stimulus rolling and consider shortening the maturity of its yield target to make its easing framework more sustainable, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said, in comments that contrast with global moves to tighten policy. Given that Japan’s underlying inflation momentum remains weak at around 0.5% and is not currently …