A key bond-market signal suggests investors feel they have a firm grip on Federal Reserve policy, reducing the chances that the central bank’s Jackson Hole conference next week will break yields from their recent pattern.

For nearly two months, the extra yield investors demand to hold the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond over the five-year note has been mostly hovering just below 1.2 percentage points. The closely watched differential—known on Wall Street as the 5-30 spread—dropped sharply from about 1.4 percentage points after the Fed’s June 15-16 policy meeting.

Investors and analysts pay close attention to the 5-30 spread because it can show how near-term monetary policy is expected to affect the long-term economic outlook. In the early days of an economic expansion, the spread tends to be large because investors expect easy-money policies to help spur growth and inflation. The spread then tends to shrink as the Fed raises interest rates to cool the economy.

Oil prices fell Thursday to their lowest level in about three months after the U.S. dollar strengthened on concern that the global economic recovery might slow and the Federal Reserve’s signals that it will scale back stimulus measures.

Brent crude oil, the international benchmark in energy markets, dropped 3.1% to $66.01 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate futures, a key U.S. gauge, declined 3.6% to $62.74 a barrel. Both benchmarks are on course for their lowest daily close since May.

The dollar’s advance to its strongest level since early November added to recent worries in energy markets. Investors had already grown increasingly nervous in recent days that rising Covid-19 cases are threatening to hobble the global recovery and could sap demand for oil in major economies like China.

A stronger dollar tends to put pressure on commodities denominated in the U.S. currency—such as oil and industrial metals like copper—which become more expensive for other...

Jobless claims fell to a pandemic low of 348,000 last week, suggesting the labor market continues to heal even as the Delta variant causes uncertainty.

New jobless claims are down more than 50% since January, but have hovered in a fairly narrow range between 424,000 and 368,000 since late May.

The Delta variant has caused recent increases in new Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations throughout the country. But while that might cause the pace of growth to ease, some economists say the dynamic between Covid-19 and economic activity has evolved over the past year.

“The data we’re seeing shows that while certain consumer areas may be starting to cool, activity does remain solid and labor demand remains extremely strong,” said Robert Rosener, senior U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley. Mr. Rosener said rising numbers of Covid-19 cases wouldn’t necessarily translate to a significant increase in jobless claims.

Employers added 943,000 jobs in July, the best...

Senate Democrats’ $3.5 trillion jobs and infrastructure plan is a sprawling piece of legislation. WSJ's Gerald F. Seib gives a rundown of the handful of provisions that figure to be the most popular, and the ones seen as most controversial. Photo illustration: Todd Johnson

Spending at U.S. retailers fell sharply in July, amid cooling purchases of goods and signs of some pullback in consumer demand as U.S. Covid-19 cases tied to the Delta variant rose.

Retail sales—a measure of purchases at stores, at restaurants and online—fell 1.1% last month compared with June, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Excluding autos—a category where supply-chain issues have limited available inventory—sales declined 0.4%.

Tuesday’s report suggested Americans continued to shift spending toward services in July. Sales dropped across several categories, primarily autos—which was down 3.9%—but also clothing, sporting goods and furniture. The retail-sales figures capture spending mostly on goods, and don’t include services such as travel, entertainment and recreation.

Restaurants and bars were a bright spot, with sales rising 1.7% over the month, while sales at nonstore retailers—a proxy for online retail sales—fell 3.1%.

Retail...

Applications for unemployment benefits are likely to reach a new pandemic low, showing a healing labor market even as the Covid-19 Delta variant continues to cause uncertainty.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal estimate that initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, will decline by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 365,000 for the week ended Aug. 14. That would be the lowest level since the pandemic took hold in the U.S. in March 2020. The Labor Department will release the latest numbers at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday.

New jobless claims are down more than 50% since January, but have hovered in a fairly narrow range between 424,000 and 368,000 since late May.

The Delta variant has caused recent increases in new Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations throughout the country. But while that might cause the pace of growth to ease, some economists say the dynamic between Covid-19 and economic activity has evolved over the past year.

“The data...

Norway’s central bank kept its key interest rate at zero at Thursday’s monetary policy meeting, as expected, and reiterated that a rate hike is likely in September.

Norges Bank said the reopening of society after coronavirus-related restrictions has driven a marked rise in activity, and unemployment has fallen further. At the same time, there is still uncertainty as to the evolution of the pandemic and the impact on the Norwegian economy.

A...

They were bored. Or worried about layoffs. Or tired of working hard for a meager raise every year. They got another job offer.

Now they have a secret.

A small, dedicated group of white-collar workers, in industries from tech to banking to insurance, say they have found a way to double their pay: Work two full-time remote jobs, don’t tell anyone and, for the most part, don’t do too much work, either.

Alone in their home offices, they toggle between two laptops. They play “Tetris” with their calendars, trying to dodge endless meetings. Sometimes they log on to two meetings at once. They use paid time off—in some cases, unlimited—to juggle the occasional big project or ramp up at a new gig. Many say they don’t work more than 40 hours a week for both jobs combined. They don’t apologize for taking advantage of a system they feel has taken advantage of them.

“It’s two jobs for one,” says a 29-year-old software engineer who has been working...

Bank Indonesia kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged as it looks to maintain the stability of the rupiah and help the economy recover from the pandemic.

The central bank maintained its seven-day reverse repo rate at 3.50% on Thursday. The decision was in line with the expectations of nine economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.

The...

The Biden administration unveiled the largest-ever increase in food-stamp benefits, boosting federal nutrition assistance after hunger surged in America during the coronavirus pandemic.

Following a review of the plan governing the nation’s food-stamp program, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the average monthly SNAP benefit would increase by $36 a person to $169. The increase, which totals $1.19 a day, reflects higher costs for a nutritious diet, the USDA said on Monday.

The change, set to take effect on Oct. 1, marks a more than 25% jump from what participants would have received once temporary pandemic assistance ends. Before the pandemic, beneficiaries on average received $121 a month, the USDA said, though that amount swelled due to temporary coronavirus-related measures. SNAP helps to feed more than 42 million Americans, and the benefit increase is the biggest in the program’s nearly 60-year...

Zhang Jianli used to hire only male workers on his construction sites throughout Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, specifying in online job ads, “Women workers please don’t contact us.” Now with abundant work but not enough hands, Mr. Zhang says he has relented.

He now offers daily wages of about 160 yuan, roughly $25, for women workers to move wood and bricks, about one-fifth less than their male peers, and up to 200 yuan a day for urgent jobs. His ads say that both men and women can apply.

“They work hard and have few complaints,” Mr. Zhang said of the women he hires, most in their 40s and 50s.

Chinese women are increasingly taking on heavy-labor jobs long dominated by men in construction, transportation and other sectors, bucking traditional gender roles in China’s vast workforce.

A labor shortage caused by low birthrates and an aging population is pushing employers to recruit more women to build high-rises, maintain rail tracks and drive trucks, among...

Spending at U.S. retailers fell sharply in July, amid cooling purchases of goods and signs of some pullback in consumer demand as U.S. Covid-19 cases tied to the Delta variant rose.

Retail sales—a measure of purchases at stores, at restaurants and online—fell 1.1% last month compared with June, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Excluding autos—a category where supply-chain issues have limited available inventory—sales declined 0.4%.

Tuesday’s report suggested Americans continued to shift spending toward services in July. Sales dropped across several categories, primarily autos—which was down 3.9%—but also clothing, sporting goods and furniture. The retail-sales figures capture spending mostly on goods, and don’t include services such as travel, entertainment and recreation.

Restaurants and bars were a bright spot, with sales rising 1.7% over the month, while sales at nonstore retailers—a proxy for online retail sales—fell 3.1%.

Retail...

Federal Reserve officials last month indicated they were on track to begin reversing their easy-money policies later this year, despite lingering differences over when exactly to pull back support for an economy growing faster than they expected earlier in the year.

Minutes of their July 27-28 Fed meeting, released Wednesday, revealed an emerging consensus to begin scaling back the bank’s $120 billion in monthly purchases of Treasury and mortgage securities at any of the officials’ three remaining policy meetings this year.

“Most participants noted that, provided that the economy were to evolve broadly as they anticipated, they judged that it could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year,” the minutes said.

The minutes said several officials favored reducing asset purchases in the coming months in order to better position the Fed to potentially raise interest rates if the economy strengthens further next year, while others...

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Repercussions from the Delta variant of Covid-19 are starting to ripple across companies, raising staffing costs in senior housing, disrupting production of potato chips and leading some companies to rein in profit projections.

Still unclear: whether the highly contagious strain of the virus will be a momentary stumble in an improving global economy—one that businesses and consumers are now better equipped to handle—or something more serious.

In recent weeks, Kellogg Co. said Delta’s spread in Malaysia slowed production of Pringles there. Online travel company Booking Holdings Inc. said overall bookings declined as Delta took root in July. U.S. healthcare companies say elective medical procedures are slowing once again in some places.

And, as more employers postpone their return to offices, the outlook is darkening for such disparate companies as a 25-person Houston cable installer and a company with a $1.3 billion market-capitalization that sells...

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis leader James Bullard doesn’t expect the surge in Covid-19 cases tied to the Delta variant to derail a robust U.S. economic recovery.

“We do track the pandemic every day. We’re still in a crisis and we do have to, you know, be nimble,” Mr. Bullard said Wednesday in a virtual appearance hosted by MarketWatch. “The most important thing about this is that the economy has clearly adapted to the pandemic situation,” the official said, and that suggests it can weather the current surge.

“You’ve...

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said it remains to be seen how the U.S. economy will weather the recent Covid-19 surge, in comments that offered no views on the outlook for monetary policy.

“It’s not yet clear whether the Delta [coronavirus] strain will have important effects on the economy; we’ll have to see about that,” Mr. Powell told students and teachers Tuesday during a virtual event held by the central bank.

Mr. Powell’s comments on the health situation follow those he made on the topic after the Fed’s policy meeting in late July. He said then that “with successive waves of Covid over the past year and some months now, there has tended to be less economic—less in the way of economic implications from each wave, and we will see whether that is the case with the Delta variety.” He added, “We don’t have a strong sense of how that might work out. So we’ll just be monitoring it.”

Mr. Powell, in a question-and-answer session with students and...

The Biden administration is set to cut off the Taliban’s access to billions of dollars in critical overseas finance, but some officials warn that the terror-group’s income from drug sales and other illicit activities threatens to undermine Washington’s last-resort pressure campaign.

The U.S. has largely secured the backing it needs to block the Taliban’s access to billions in reserves held at the International Monetary Fund and assistance pledged through the World Bank and other donor groups, according to people familiar with the matter.

The country cannot access its reserves at the IMF or other fund resources, an official at the emergency lender told The Wall Street Journal Wednesday.

The administration’s diplomatic scramble to prevent the Taliban from tapping accounts established by the Afghan government has focused on ensuring the group isn’t recognized as the country’s legitimate government by foreign governments that control those accounts, the...

If the Federal Reserve’s management of the economy were all that mattered, Chairman Jerome Powell would probably be cruising toward reappointment. His response to the pandemic and focus on full employment have drawn bipartisan praise.

But the Fed is also a financial regulator, an inherently more political role than monetary policy. Mr. Powell’s shot at another term when this one expires in February is now threatened by progressive Democrats whose priority is a more activist Fed on regulation and other nonmonetary matters.

Mr. Powell almost certainly has enough votes from both parties to be confirmed; the question is whether the holdouts can persuade President Biden to nominate someone else. Last week The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Biden’s economic team generally supports giving Mr. Powell a second term, but resistance from Democrats including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) could lead to his replacement. “Over and over and over he has weakened a...

AUSTIN, Texas—A homebuying frenzy is gripping much of the U.S., but Austin takes the prize for the biggest increase in homes selling well above the asking price.

Nearly 2,700 homes in the Texas capital have sold this year for $100,000 or more above their initial listing price, according to an analysis by Redfin Corp. that examined sales through Aug. 11. While a few other U.S. cities have had more properties sell at that premium to the asking price, none have experienced as big a percent rise in homes transacting at that lofty an increase, Redfin said.

“As a consumer, it seems scary to be in a housing market where the home you’re looking at [is] priced at $400,000, then, when you go to put in an offer, you realize the true price is $500,000,” Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather said.

The number of homes sold year-over-year for at least $100,000 over asking price has grown nearly 10-fold in Seattle, and fivefold in Oakland, according to Redfin. In...

Minutes of the Federal Reserve’s late July monetary policy meeting didn’t reveal much concern among central bank officials about the massive flow of cash into the Fed’s reverse repo facility.

As part of a broader debate over whether the central bank should pare its $120 billion a month in bond buying stimulus, Fed officials also mulled recent developments regarding the reverse repo facility, according to the minutes released Wednesday.

The...

Vaccination is increasingly a requirement to be hired, as employers ranging from accounting and software firms to schools and restaurants are asking applicants to be inoculated against Covid-19.

The share of job postings stating that a new hire must be vaccinated has nearly doubled in the past month, according to the job search site Indeed. The total number remains low, roughly 1,200 postings requiring a vaccination per million in the first week of August. But that is well up from about 600 in early July, and about 50 per million job postings in early February.

Many of the postings don’t explicitly name Covid-19 as the vaccine required for employment, said Indeed economist AnnElizabeth Konkel, who wrote the report, but broader context of the job descriptions suggested most employers were referring to the coronavirus vaccine, as opposed to other shots. Early this year, before Covid-19 vaccines were widely available in the U.S., very few job postings outside of...

If the Federal Reserve’s management of the economy were all that mattered, Chairman Jerome Powell would probably be cruising toward reappointment. His response to the pandemic and focus on full employment have drawn bipartisan praise.

But the Fed is also a financial regulator, an inherently more political role than monetary policy. Mr. Powell’s shot at another term when this one expires in February is now threatened by progressive Democrats whose priority is a more activist Fed on regulation and other nonmonetary matters.

Mr. Powell almost certainly has enough votes from both parties to be confirmed; the question is whether the holdouts can persuade President Biden to nominate someone else. Last week The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Biden’s economic team generally supports giving Mr. Powell a second term, but resistance from Democrats including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) could lead to his replacement. “Over and over and over he has weakened a...