Germany on Monday extended its current pandemic measures as the experts panel appointed by the government has warned the fast spreading Omicron coronavirus variant could bring critical infrastructure in Europe's biggest economy to a breaking point, Reuters reported. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that he had agreed with the heads of the federal states to extend restrictions such as limiting private gatherings to 10 ten people and requiring proof of booster vaccination or a negative test at restaurants. "Now it's time to stay on course," said Scholz after a meeting on Monday.

Germany's flagship carrier Lufthansa is in talks to buy a 40% stake in state-owned Alitalia's successor ITA Airways, two people familiar with the negotiations said on Sunday, following a newspaper report that a deal could be unveiled next week, Reuters reported. The talks about a tie-up between Germany's partly state-owned Lufthansa and ITA Airways are still ongoing with all outcomes possible, one of the sources said on condition of anonymity, adding the stake price was still under negotiation.

Benchmark German bond yields fell for the first time in five sessions on Thursday as money markets slightly pulled back their bets on rate hikes this year, Reuters reported. Germany's 10-year yield, the benchmark for the euro area, had risen above 0% for the first time in nearly three years on Wednesday but was trading back in negative territory on Thursday. Money markets pared back bets on rate hikes from the European Central Bank this year slightly, pricing in a 80% chance of 10-basis point rate hike by September, down from a 100% chance on Wednesday.

Investors who lost money from investing in Wirecard AG shares can’t make Germany’s financial regulator Bafin compensate them, a Frankfurt court ruled, Bloomberg News reported. The tribunal on Wednesday threw out four suits by shareholders who claimed they lost between 3,000 euros ($3,404) and 60,000 euros after the former payment company went bust in Germany’s biggest accounting scandal. Bafin isn’t liable to individuals even if the regulator made blunders, so they cannot sue, the court said in a statement.

Germany is telling its banks to rebuild capital buffers that they were allowed to deplete at the onset of the pandemic, joining other European countries in tightening regulations again as lenders take more risk, Bloomberg News reported. The country’s banks have to set aside 22 billion euros ($25 billion) of capital buffers by February next year, the country’s financial authorities said on Wednesday. The vast majority have enough capital on hand to meet the regulatory demands without raising fresh funds, BaFin President Mark Branson told reporters.

Germany is blaming the collapse of a shipyard business on its Malaysia-based owner Genting Group, saying the conglomerate refused to contribute to a government bailout plan, the Associated Press reported. The MV Werften shipyard in northeastern Germany, which Genting bought in 2016, filed for bankruptcy protection Monday after getting into financial difficulties over the construction of a massive cruise liner. The German government had earlier said it was willing to discuss a 600 million-euro ($678 million) bailout plan that would protect 1,900 jobs.

German retail sales rose unexpectedly in November, data showed on Tuesday, lifting them to a record annual high despite renewed COVID-19 restrictions which held back a consumer-led recovery in Europe's largest economy, Reuters reported. The Federal Statistics Office said retail sales were up 0.6% on the month in real terms. That beat a Reuters forecast of a fall of 0.5%. For 2021, retail sales rose 0.9% in real terms and 3.1% in nominal terms, reaching record highs despite curbs on non-essential visits to the shops.

German unemployment fell more than expected in December, data showed on Tuesday, in a further sign that the labour market in Europe's largest economy remains resilient despite rising COVID-19 infections, Reuters reported. The Labour Office said the number of people out of work fell by 23,000 in seasonally adjusted terms to 2.405 million. A Reuters poll had forecast a fall of 15,000. "The labor market developed well at the end of the year. The recovery of the previous months continued," Labour Office head Detlef Scheele said.

The new German government will offer tax relief to individuals and companies worth at least 30 billion euros ($34.1 billion) in this legislative period, Finance Minister Christian Lindner was quoted as saying on Sunday, Reuters reported. "We will relieve people and small and medium-sized businesses by significantly more than 30 billion euros," Lindner told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Germany has long been ahead of the curve as a source of technical innovation and manufacturing. Now it is leading much of the developed world toward a demographic cliff edge that could put a damper on Europe’s largest economy, raising pressure on its pension system and pushing inflation higher for years to come, the Wall Street Journal reported. Economists forecast that Germany’s workforce could peak as soon as 2023 and then shrink by up to five million people by the end of the decade.