"Without further action, we risk a longer, more painful recession now and longer term scarring of the economy later," said Janet Yellen, US president-elect Joe Biden's choice for treasury secretary, at her confirmation hearing in Washington earlier.

U.S. stocks opened at near record highs on Wednesday, as Biden prepared to take charge as the country's 46th president. Despite the avowed crackdown on "Big Tech" the Nasdaq was trading at 45.4 points, up 1.1 percent to an all-time high at the opening bell. Corporate America remains hopeful that Biden's planned $1.9 trillion spending package may kickstart growth in the pandemic-hit economy.

Meanwhile in a sign of nervousness among the banks, lending rates plummeted late last year across the EU according to new data by the European Central Bank. Concern is growing that the full effects of the pandemic have yet to be felt, as government-backed job furlough schemes come to an end.

Italy's embattled leader Giuseppe Conte is fighting for his political life after losing his majority in the Senate. Watch our film for more.

And the threat of another major health pandemic is the chief worry across developed economies, according to research just out from the World Health Forum, ahead of poverty, terrorism or joblessness.

Read on for all the day's business news in full.

Louise Greenwood,

Digital correspondent

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Markets are in a positive mood on Wednesday, despite bracing themselves for a slew of new legislation as U.S. President-elect Joe Biden takes office. Biden is expected to sign a series of executive orders in the early weeks of his term in office, reversing some of Donald Trump's most controversial policies in areas from climate change to immigration. Among the priority issues, Biden is expected to signal that the U.S. will rejoin the Paris Climate agreement and halt its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, while rolling back on the travel ban on citizens of some Muslim countries which was introduced at the very beginning of Trump's administration. Tough new rules on big tech and a new corporate tax clampdown are among the changes expected.

Biden unveiled an ambitious $1.9 trillion plan last week amid poor jobs data, hoping to boost the economy by enhancing benefits and making direct cash payments to households. He is expected to kickstart job creation through investments in infrastructure, green energy and education. 

Meanwhile, Janet Yellen, Biden's nominee for Treasury Secretary, has warned lawmakers that the costs of not acting to prop up the U.S. economy far outweigh the risks. Despite growing cross-party concern in Congress about the rising levels of public debt to pay for the impact of the pandemic, the former Federal Reserve chair said corporations and wealth taxes would need to rise to help finance Biden's ambitious infrastructure spending plans but told lawmakers they should be ready to "act big" without worrying about cost implications. Yellen also warned about the growing threat that cryptocurrencies pose to banking systems globally, calling for more legislation to curb their use in "mainly illicit finance."

The EU's chief executive and chairman Ursula von der Leyen says the regulation of U.S. technology companies should be the priority for the new Biden administration, to stop the "dark forces" of hate speech online. Describing the presidency as a "new dawn" for Europe and the United States, Von der Leyen said that the online material that led to the storming of the U.S. capital earlier this month must not be allowed to circulate freely on the internet, calling for new "global standards" in policing content.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley saw profits well above expectations in the last quarter, suggesting a bumper season ahead for Wall Street despite the pandemic restraints. Net income was up to $3.27 billion, or $1.81 per share, for the three months to the end of December, compared with $2.09 billion the year before as the bank refocused on its institutional securities business, notably in the area of pharmaceuticals.

Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has won a crucial vote to stay in power, just days after the controversial former PM Matteo Renzi pulled his party out of the ruling coalition. However, the vote in the Senate leaves him without an absolute majority in the upper chamber. Opposition parties say they plan to ask President Sergio Mattarella to intervene to force Conte, who has been prime minister since 2018, to resign. The prime minister, who came to power leading a populist coalition, has told the Senate it was vital to maintain political cohesion in the face of the "historic challenge" posed by the pandemic.

Eurozone banks scaled back on businesses and consumer lending late last year as lockdown conditions fueled fears of rising bad debts, according to a survey by the European Central Bank. Lenders have been tightening lending policies and approval criteria for new loans to the highest rate seen since the 2008 global financial crisis, with several of them expected to pull back on credit further in the first quarter of this year, according to the ECB's quarterly survey of banks. Mortgages and consumer credit have all become harder to access, with many French banks tightened their approval rates in response to stricter rules from regulators.

Nonetheless, in the UK the number of low-deposit home loans has risen fourfold since the start of the pandemic according to new figures. The price comparison site Moneyfacts says there are 197 products offering a mortgage for those with 10 percent of asking price to offer as a deposit, as hard-pressed first time buyers witness their savings plummeting in the pandemic. 

It comes as new figure show the cost of living in the UK jumped unexpectedly last month, pushed up by higher transport costs and clothes prices as people rushed home to be with family ahead of the new lockdown. The consumer price index, the main gauge for the cost of living, was 0.6 percent last month from 0.3 percent in November, above economists' expectations.  

The elusive boss of internet shopping giant Alibaba has made a rare public appearance, sending the firm's share price storming. Jack Ma spoke in a livestreamed video while touring a primary school in his hometown of Hangzhou in an event to recognise rural teachers. Shares of Alibaba, the e-commerce giant that was co-founded by Ma, jumped as much as 11 percent in Hong Kong on Ma's reemergence into the spotlight after a long absence.

German car giant Audi says it will team up with China's oldest carmaker FAW to develop its brand of luxury electric vehicles. The German auto giant says it hopes electric vehicles will make up a third of its sales in China within four years. Audi and its owner Volkswagen will own a 60 percent stake in the project, while FAW will own the remainder. The $4.6 billion facility is set to open in 2024 at Chungchun in the north-east of China.

Meanwhile Germany's Mercedes-Benz has unveiled its new electric compact SUV as part of plans to take on market leader Tesla. The EQA is the first of several electric models it plans to launch this year, with a 426-kilometer range; a 500 km model will follow. The model will go on sale in Europe early next month at what management describe as "very attractive price points."

Luxury clothing firm Burberry has reported a worse than expected 9 percent fall in sales during the third quarter, despite strong growth in Asia. The British group says the decline in revenue reflected a move to discounting in a key trading period, which had "a high single-digit impact on comparable sales growth" made worse by sharply reduced tourist traffic to its outlets, including the UK's Bicester Village. 

More than half of company bosses in the UK gave up their bonuses last year amid the pandemic downturn, according to new figures. Annual bonuses of the 45 companies that reported in the second half of 2020 were down on the previous year, according to analysis by accountants Deloitte, while more than half paid no bonuses to top staff at all.

Research for the UK's biggest union shows that black and ethnic minority workers have been hit disproportionally hard by the COVID-19 outbreak. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) says the unemployment rate for black and ethnic minority workers has risen to 8.5 percent since the outbreak of COVID-19 from 7 percent before, meaning that roughly one in 12 BME workers is jobless. 

The value of the world's second-largest cryptocurrency Ethereum could climb sevenfold to $10,500, according to analysts. The popularity of the related blockchain for trading in the currency has pushed the value of the crypto to record highs this week, as Ethereum made progress towards a new network that would allow it to process a similar number of transactions to Mastercard and Visa. In an investors' note, Fundstrat Global Advisors described Ether as "the best risk/reward investment play in crypto."

Netflix says it no longer needs to raise debt to fund its content spending spree as subscriber levels pass the 200 million mark. The video streaming pioneer has been using high-yield bonds for funding as it sought to outspend Hollywood studios. Latest quarterly figures show the streaming giant had almost 204 million subscribers in the last quarter of 2020, adding 37 million paying customers last year on the back of hit shows like Bridgerton and The Queen's Gambit.

WATCH Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is in the middle of a political crisis. CGTN Europe's Alex Fraser in Rome answers three critical questions about the recent events: What sparked the crisis? What do Italians make of it? And could it affect Italy's handling of the pandemic?

New figures suggest the COVID-19 pandemic slowed Chinese investment abroad last year. Chinese outbound merger and acquisition activity fell 45 percent globally to $29 billion in 2020 – that's the lowest level since 2008. CGTN was joined by Peter Lu, who heads Baker McKenzie's China Practice in the UK, to discuss the downturn.

There are several factors. A very important factor is COVID-19 but also there are uncertainties in other areas, like Brexit, and also the increased amount of national security concerns in Europe. Those uncertainties are not great for Chinese investment. 

North America has remained a destination for Chinese investment. Is that surprising?

The numbers of mergers and acquisitions can be inflated by a couple of big deals. I think the reason for the increase in North America was that there were several investments into natural resources in Canada from China, so that increased the overall percentage. But I don't believe that's a trend for the moment. 

Investment into China was encouraging in the second half of 2020. What are the reasons for that? 

Mainly because China has liberalized many industries and really opened up for foreign investment, so there are many international companies, multinationals, that want to take advantage of [this] – so they are buying their shares in the joint ventures. They are buying Chinese companies so they can occupy the Chinese market quickly.

As the economies of Europe take a hit from COVID-19, could we see more distressed asset sales?

Yes, I think so. I think we saw the peak year for China investment in 2016 and 2017. I think we're past that stage. [Investors] look clearly at what they want to buy, look for quality investment rather than quantities. Because of the pandemic, there may be many distressed assets, cheap assets, but that does not mean it's a good asset. It has to be a strategic fit for Chinese investors. So we will continue to see the trend, but we're not going to see Chinese investors come to Europe to do a shopping spree like they did in 2016 and 2017.

And finally, the latest figures show the EU jobs market is holding up despite the pandemic, with the number of people starting new jobs far outstripping those leaving one in Q3 of last year. Economists credit government-backed furlough schemes for the results and warn it may be some time before the full impact of COVID-19 on EU employment is felt.