And just as notable as the names who signed the statement are those that didn’t. Many companies declined to sign the statement, and some executives, such as Mr. Buffett, signed for themselves but not on behalf of their companies. JPMorgan Chase also declined to sign the statement despite a personal request from senior Black business leaders to Jamie Dimon, who made a statement on voting rights before.“While our government relations teams have historically focused on core business issues like tax policy or government regulation, Walmart and other major employers are increasingly being asked to weigh in on broader societal issues such as civil rights.” The company didn’t sign the statement, but “we do want to be clear that we believe broad participation and trust in the election process are vital to its integrity,” Mr. McMillon said.

Global stock and Wall Street futures rose Wednesday after traders shrugged off higher US inflation and a decline in Japanese machinery orders. On Tuesday, Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index climbed 0.3% to a new high, propelled by tech and consumer stocks on optimism the vaccine rollout will allow business activity to return to normal. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo shed 0.4% to 29,620.99 after government data showed February machinery orders fell by an unexpectedly wide margin of 8.5% from the previous month, adding to concern about the country's recovery. Brent crude, the price standard, gained 79 cents to $64.46 per barrel in London.

Tesco, Britain's biggest supermarket, said Wednesday its profits slid by a fifth over the past year as higher costs related to the pandemic, such as hiring more staff, offset exceptionally strong sales growth. The company said that its pretax profit for the year to February slid to 825 million pounds (USD 1.14 billion), compared with just over 1 billion pounds the previous year. Profits were also hit by Tesco's decision to hand back 585 million pounds of tax relief to the British government. Tesco said its best estimate at this stage" is that its retail operating profit will recover to a similar level as in the 2019-20 financial year, the year before the pandemic.

In Britain, easyJet's biggest market, uncertainty remains about when travel can resume and which countries will feature on a green list of low-risk destinations."I would expect that almost all major European countries, that by the time it comes to travel reopening, that most countries in should be in that category," he said of Britain's green list. Travel industry experts have been less optimistic, saying that green list travel could be restricted to Iceland, Malta and Israel, countries which have made more progress with vaccination programmes than Europe's big leisure destinations like Spain, Italy and France. Flying has been severely curtailed due to the pandemic over the last 12 months and easyJet flew just 9% of 2019 capacity in the three months ended in March, when it burnt through 470 million pounds.

Chase & Co reported a surge in first-quarter earnings on Wednesday, as the largest U.S. bank released more reserves and was aided by a blowout quarter from its trading desks and soaring investment banking fees. JPMorgan, widely seen as a barometer of the health of the broader U.S. economy, was also helped by favorable comparisons to last year when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the bank to build reserves against the risk of a wave of loan defaults. JPMorgan's profit was boosted by reserve takedowns, while a robust performance from capital markets and investment banking offset declines in its consumer bank. Goldman Sachs, Wall Street's premier investment bank, is expected to report results later on Wednesday, followed by Wells Fargo.

The board appointed Satoshi Tsunakawa — the current chairman and previous president — to replace Mr. Kurumatani, the company said in a brief statement. Toshiba, once among the crown jewels of Japanese industry, a maker of products ranging from personal printers to railroad locomotives, has struggled in recent years, overshadowed by the legacy of a major accounting scandal and its acquisition of the American nuclear power company Westinghouse, which declared bankruptcy in 2017. Seeking to rebuild, Toshiba looked for a new leader from outside its own ranks, and in 2018 it appointed Mr. Kurumatani, an executive with CVC Capital Partners, a private equity company based in Europe, as chief executive. It was an unusual decision for a company that had long been headed by company insiders.

To make traveling smoother, airlines may require travelers to present a vaccine passport, digital documentation proving that they have been vaccinated. Airlines have been testing mobile health apps including CommonPass, ICC AOKpass, VeriFLY and the International Air Transport Association’s travel pass app to ensure travelers can present their health data in a secure, verifiable way. Don’t upload your data to any of the apps just yet — but when it comes time to travel, do check your airline’s website for updates on vaccine passports and follow the instructions. When you arrive at your destination, you can usually buy a SIM card at the airport or a cellphone store and insert that into your phone; you can also order a SIM card online and have it delivered to your home before you travel.