A worker wearing a protective mask arranges shopping carts outside a Walmart store in Duarte, California, the United States, on Thursday, November 12, 2020. David Swanson | Bloomberg | Getty Images Walmart will announce its fourth quarter results on Thursday before the bell. Here’s what Wall Street expects: Earnings per share: Consensus estimates from Refinitiv…

GEORGES GOBET | AFP | Getty Images Ford is investing $ 1 billion in an electric vehicle production facility in Cologne. The European branch of the automotive giant is committed to going all-in for electric vehicles in the coming years. In the plans announced on Wednesday morning, Ford said that its entire range of passenger…

Indra Nooyi speaks on stage during the 2020 Women’s Watermark Conference at the San Jose Convention Center on February 12, 2020 in San Jose, California. Marla Aufmuth | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images When economies enter a new phase of growth, the next 20 years will be “the decades of women,” says former PepsiCo…

Illustration of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine Given Ruvic | Reuters Johnson & Johnson will not hold a “large inventory” of its Covid-19 vaccine prior to regulatory approval expected this month, President Joe Biden’s Covid tsar said Wednesday. Jeff Zients said the government has learned in recent weeks that J&J will only manufacture “a…

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, selected as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks during an event at the Queen Theater in Wilmington, Del., Tuesday, December 8, 2020. Susan Walsh | AP The United States needs to swiftly deploy Covid-19 vaccines and step up its surveillance before highly contagious variants set in or the…

Newly confirmed Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to reporters during his first press conference at the State Department in Washington on January 27, 2021. Carlos Barria | Reuters WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the United States will pay the World Health Organization the more than $ 200 million by…

A worker puts hot peppers on a pizza in a Domino’s pizza franchise in New York. Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images After a year of business closings, disruptions and unprecedented challenges, the franchise industry is poised to return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year, if Covid-19 is controlled, according to…

Consumers flocked to spend their stimulus checks in January, sending retail sales up 5.3% for a month in a blockbuster start through 2021, according to a government report on Wednesday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected an increase of only 1.2%. Excluding cars, sales rose 5.9%, also well above the 1% estimate, driven by an…

Workers unload the cargo from a Hungarian Airbus 330 plane after transporting the first doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine against the coronavirus (Covid-19) at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport on February 16, 2021. ZOLTAN MATH | AFP | Getty Images LONDON – International diplomacy is likely to determine who gets access to coronavirus vaccines…

To quarantine or not to quarantine – that is the question. At least for countries that are thinking about dealing with international travelers. That changed last month, however, when Sri Lanka reopened its borders with a requirement unlike any country previously opened – one that neither allows travelers the freedom of the island nor places…