Bloomberg Swedish home-furnishings giant Ikea gave a bleak outlook for the retail industry, saying it expects shortages from the supply-chain crisis to remain an issue through the middle of next year. “The biggest challenge has been getting products out of China, where there has been a very limited capacity,” Chief Executive Officer Jon Abrahamsson Ring of Inter Ikea, the worldwide …

Bloomberg Another time-honoured axiom is being put to the test in the post-pandemic stock market, the one that says don’t fight the Federal Reserve. Last week, anyway, optimism around everything from corporate earnings to Covid-19 counts and seasonal market trends put a muzzle on central bank-obsessed skeptics. The S&P 500 shook off the gloom of the last month to post …

Bloomberg Hong Kong is starting futures contracts that make it easier for international investors to bet on mainland Chinese stocks, intensifying rivalry between the city’s bourse and its Singapore counterpart. Analysts expect that the new product, which launches on Monday, from Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd could take several years to gain traction, but that it will ultimately provide …