Inflation is so 2021. Walmart Inc has already been preparing quietly for the day prices drop so that it can beat rivals to the punch and hold on to all the customers it has gained during the pandemic. Other retailers should take notice. “We’re out there asking suppliers even now, ‘Do any of you want to get aggressive and swim ...

It looks as though the White House may have finally figured out the obvious: It’s time to roll out Covid-19 booster shots to everyone, ASAP. Medical specialists are still debating the extent to which boosters are strictly necessary, given that one- and two-dose vaccine regimens seem to be protecting people against life-threatening disease. And there’s an ethical debate about whether ...

The premise that the dollar is the world’s safe haven is a constant in this ever-changing world. It’s certainly proving true this year. The US Dollar Index, known as the DXY and measuring the dollar’s value against the world’s major currencies, is at its highest since July 2020 and looks poised to surge even more, fueled by eyewateringly high US ...

After the red-hot US consumer price index reading of 6.2%, debate around what the Federal Reserve should do about inflation has reached a fever pitch. There are two prevailing schools of thought: The Fed should do nothing. The Fed should speed up the pace at which it gradually tightens monetary policy. Some of those who side with view No. 1 ...

Bloomberg A virtual summit between US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping marked a “good beginning” for the world’s biggest economies to avoid a conflict, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said. “They now have to be followed by concrete discussions that lead in a direction both presidents have affirmed they want to pursue,” the influential US diplomat ...

Bloomberg The Taliban’s top diplomat warned of an Afghan refugee exodus if the US continues to block the release of some $9 billion of the country’s assets. “We are concerned that if the current situation prevails, the Afghan government and people will face problems and will become a cause for mass migration in the region and world,” Amir Khan Muttaqi, ...

Bloomberg Belarus provided shelter for migrants in a logistics hub near the Polish border, offering temporary respite to an increasingly violent standoff on the European Union’s eastern frontier. More than 1,000 people spent the night in a Belarusian warehouse near the Kuznica border crossing, which witnessed the worst clashes since the crisis began, state-owned news agency Belta reported. The move ...

Bloomberg Thailand’s parliament voted yet again to reject a charter overhaul proposed by pro-democracy activists seeking to eliminate the legacy of the 2014 army coup. This was the second time in about a year that the parliament, dominated by royalist lawmakers, pushed back against the rewriting of the military-drafted constitution that anti-government protesters have been pushing for the past 16 ...

Bloomberg Bosnia-Herzegovina must revive its bid to join the European Union to avert the possibility of the ethnically divided country being torn apart, the country’s top international envoy said. Among six EU hopefuls in the Western Balkans region, the country of 3.3 million is among the furthest from accession. The process has stalled since 2016 as its politicians bicker on ...

Bloomberg Real estate investors acquired a record 18% of US homes sold in the third quarter of 2021, wagering $64 billion that home prices and rents will continue to surge. Investors bought more than 90,000 homes in three months through September, up 10% from the prior quarter and 80% from a year earlier, according to a report by Redfin Corp. ...