Bloomberg The Bank of Japan (BOJ) ended the second year of the pandemic in a very different place to other major central banks. While the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England this week took aggressive steps to pull back from crisis aid, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda and his board slow walked it, extending assistance to struggling smaller businesses for …

  Bloomberg A tumultuous year for Chinese markets looks to be finally weighing on demand for new stock funds. While equity funds have raised 2 trillion yuan ($314 billion) this year — matching 2020’s record — fundraising this quarter is poised to be the slowest in two years, according to data from consultancy Z-Ben Advisors Ltd. Launches have slowed through …

  Bloomberg Producers of battery metals and specialist chemicals for electric cars are outpacing sector leaders like Tesla Inc in the stock market as prices of key commodities climb due to tight supply and wider adoption of zero-emission vehicles. Pilbara Minerals Ltd, a Perth-based supplier of lithium raw materials, jumped more than 210% this year, while Ecopro BM Co and …