Oksana Dudyk scanned a small selection of ornamental plants lining the shelves of her new florist shop, recently opened in this city on Ukraine’s western frontier. Her eye landed on the perfect bloom for a new customer: fuchsia-colored primroses, vivid and lush, ideal for brightening an austere corner.

It was late afternoon, and the flowers were only her 10th sale of the day. But that was nothing short of a miracle for Ms. Dudyk, who started the shop with her last savings after fleeing her now-decimated hometown, Mariupol, under a hail of Russian rockets. Her husband, who enlisted in the Ukrainian Army after the invasion, was captured by Russian forces in May and has not been heard from since.

“These flowers help me to get by,” said Ms. Dudyk, 55. A former construction engineer who before the war helped design and build schools, she said she had never imagined that she would one day sell flowers to survive. “They bring me joy, and they help customers, too, by...

??The United States has authorized $280 billion in taxpayer money to subsidize rich computer chip companies and invest in technology research for the sake of keeping America strong and innovative.

President Biden on Tuesday signed the law, officially known as the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, calling it “an investment in America itself.”

If this law does what its many backers in government and private industry hope, the U.S. will have more control over the future of essential computer chips and have a hedge if China grows more hostile toward Taiwan, a U.S. ally. The law also aims to keep America on the cutting edge of technology by putting more government support into research.

SAN FRANCISCO — The young kings of Silicon Valley are dismounting their unicorns.

They’re writing sentimental blog posts that outline their legacies. They’re expressing hope for their companies’ prospects. They’re quitting their jobs leading the start-ups they founded.

In recent weeks, Ben Silbermann, a co-founder of the digital pinboard service Pinterest, resigned as chief executive; Joe Gebbia, a co-founder of the home rental company Airbnb, announced his departure from the company’s leadership; and Apoorva Mehta, the founder of the grocery delivery app Instacart, said he would end his run as executive chairman when the company went public, as soon as this year.

The resignations signify the end of an era at these companies, which are among the most valuable and well-known to emerge from Silicon Valley in the past decade, and of the era they represent. In recent years, investors have dumped increasingly large sums of money into a group of highly valued...

SAN FRANCISCO — The young kings of Silicon Valley are dismounting their unicorns.

They’re writing sentimental blog posts that outline their legacies. They’re expressing hope for their companies’ prospects. They’re quitting their jobs leading the start-ups they founded.

In recent weeks, Ben Silbermann, a co-founder of the digital pinboard service Pinterest, resigned as chief executive; Joe Gebbia, a co-founder of the home rental company Airbnb, announced his departure from the company’s leadership; and Apoorva Mehta, the founder of the grocery delivery app Instacart, said he would end his run as executive chairman when the company went public, as soon as this year.

The resignations signify the end of an era at these companies, which are among the most valuable and well-known to emerge from Silicon Valley in the past decade, and of the era they represent. In recent years, investors have dumped increasingly large sums of money into a group of highly valued...

Inflation cooled notably in July as gas prices and airfares fell, a welcome reprieve for consumers and a positive development for economic policymakers in Washington — though not yet a conclusive sign that price increases have turned a corner.

The Consumer Price Index climbed 8.5 percent in the year through July, a slower pace than economists had expected and considerably less than the 9.1 percent increase in the year through June. After food and fuel costs are stripped out to better understand underlying cost pressures, prices climbed 5.9 percent, matching the previous reading.

The marked deceleration in overall inflation — on a monthly basis, prices barely moved — is another sign of economic improvement that could boost President Biden at a time when rapid price increases have been burdening consumers and eroding voter confidence. The new data came on the heels of an unexpectedly strong jobs report last week that underscored the economy’s momentum.

Oksana Dudyk scanned a small selection of ornamental plants lining the shelves of her new florist shop, recently opened in this city on Ukraine’s western frontier. Her eye landed on the perfect bloom for a new customer: fuchsia-colored primroses, vivid and lush, ideal for brightening an austere corner.

It was late afternoon, and the flowers were only her 10th sale of the day. But that was nothing short of a miracle for Ms. Dudyk, who started the shop with her last savings after fleeing her now-decimated hometown Mariupol under a hail of Russian rockets. Her husband, who enlisted in the Ukrainian army after the invasion, was captured by Russian forces in May and has not been heard from since.

“These flowers help me to get by,” said Ms. Dudyk, 55. A former construction engineer who before the war helped design and build schools, she said that she never imagined that she would one day sell flowers to survive. “They bring me joy, and they help customers too, by creating...

Inflation cooled in July as gas prices and airfares fell, a welcome reprieve for consumers and economic policymakers but not yet a conclusive sign that price increases are turning a corner.

The Consumer Price Index climbed 8.5 percent in the year through July, compared with 9.1 percent the prior month, a bigger slowdown than economists had projected. After stripping out food and fuel costs to get a sense of underlying price pressures, prices climbed by 5.9 percent through July, matching the previous reading.

Airline ticket prices fell sharply in July after peaking in recent months, fueled by high costs, high demand and a limited number of flights.

Fares fell 7.8 percent in July compared to June, helping to ease overall inflation. Aviation experts said they expect prices to continue to drop into the fall as jet fuel prices and demand ease.

Fares peaked in May when many travelers began confirming summer travel plans. After more than two years of exercising caution, many people took longer trips this summer, which is typically the busiest season for air travel. At the same time, many airlines cut the number of flights on their summer schedules to reduce the risk of mass delays and cancellations because of weather and staffing problems especially around holidays and other peak travel days. Fares were also driven up by high labor and fuel costs.

Stocks jumped on Wednesday, following news that inflation moderated in July.

The S&P 500 index rose 2.1 percent, regaining all the ground lost in declines recorded in the past four sessions, and then some. The rally pushed the index into positive territory for the month, extending the big gains recorded in July. The benchmark stock index now sits at its highest level since early May.

The expectation that inflation will begin to subside has helped improve investor sentiment recently, bolstered by signs that despite the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate increases, companies remain profitable and the jobs market is still in good shape.

“This peak in inflation that we’ve probably seen,” said Meghan Swiber, a U.S. rates strategist at Bank of America, probably “confirms that we’ve seen the peak of Fed hawkishness already.”

That scenario is seen as good for stocks, said Matthew Luzzetti, the chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank. “Equities are...

Stocks jumped on Wednesday, following news that inflation moderated in July.

The S&P 500 index rose 2.1 percent, regaining all the ground lost in declines recorded in the past four sessions, and then some. The rally pushed the index into positive territory for the month, extending the big gains recorded in July. The benchmark stock index now sits at its highest level since early May.

The expectation that inflation will begin to subside has helped improve investor sentiment recently, bolstered by signs that despite the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate increases, companies remain profitable and the jobs market is still in good shape.

“This peak in inflation that we’ve probably seen,” said Meghan Swiber, a U.S. rates strategist at Bank of America, probably “confirms that we’ve seen the peak of Fed hawkishness already.”

That scenario is seen as good for stocks, said Matthew Luzzetti, the chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank. “Equities are...

Stocks jumped on Wednesday, following news that inflation moderated in July.

The S&P 500 index rose 2.1 percent, regaining all the ground lost in declines recorded in the past four sessions, and then some. The rally pushed the index into positive territory for the month, extending the big gains recorded in July. The benchmark stock index now sits at its highest level since early May.

The expectation that inflation will begin to subside has helped improve investor sentiment recently, bolstered by signs that despite the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate increases, companies remain profitable and the jobs market is still in good shape.

“This peak in inflation that we’ve probably seen,” said Meghan Swiber, a U.S. rates strategist at Bank of America, probably “confirms that we’ve seen the peak of Fed hawkishness already.”

That scenario is seen as good for stocks, said Matthew Luzzetti, the chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank. “Equities are...

Gasoline prices in the United States have fallen for 57 consecutive days since reaching a high of more than $5 a gallon in June.

The national average price of gas was $4.01 on Wednesday, according to AAA. That’s higher than it was a year ago but still well below the record of nearly $5.02 in mid-June (not adjusted for inflation). Energy costs feed into broad measures of inflation, so the drop is also good news for policymakers who have made limiting the fuel price increases a priority.

The drop reflects a number of factors: Weaker demand because high costs have kept some drivers off the roads; a decline in global oil prices in recent months; and a handful of states suspending taxes on gasoline. The decline has been welcomed by the Biden administration, which for months has been orchestrating a campaign to lower gas prices and criticizing energy companies for profiting at the expense of American consumers.

Higher-income households built up savings and wealth during the early stages of the pandemic as they stayed at home and their stocks, houses and other assets rose in value, The New York Times’s Jeanna Smialek and Ben Casselman report. Between those stockpiles and solid wage growth, many have been able to keep spending even as costs climb.

But data and anecdotes suggest that lower-income households, despite the resilient job market, are struggling more profoundly with inflation.

That divergence poses a challenge for the Federal Reserve, which is hoping that higher interest rates will slow consumer spending and ease pressure on prices across the economy. Already, there are signs that poorer families are cutting back. If richer families don’t pull back as much — if they keep going on vacations, dining out and buying new cars and second homes — many prices could keep rising. The Fed might need to raise interest rates even more to bring inflation under control, and that...

Elon Musk, the chief executive of the electric vehicle maker Tesla, has sold about $7 billion worth of the company’s stock, a move he said on Twitter was an effort to raise cash in case he is forced to complete his $44 billion deal to acquire the social media company.

The sale of 7.92 million Tesla shares were made starting on Aug. 5, he revealed Tuesday in securities filings, a reversal from his previous statements that he would not sell additional shares to finance the Twitter deal.

Mr. Musk signed the deal in April to acquire the social media company only to announce months later his intent to pull out, citing concerns about its accounting of fake users. His hesitancy coincided with a deep plunge in shares of technology companies, including Tesla, the primary source of his wealth.

Signs that inflation eased in July offered a political reprieve for President Biden, who has spent months on the defensive as prices climbed to 40-year highs.

Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Mr. Biden declared that his “economic plan is working.” The president said that rising prices may have turned a corner.

“We’re seeing some signs that inflation may be beginning to moderate,” Mr. Biden said, adding that easing prices and the strong labor market “underscore the kind of economy we’ve been building.”

New York City said Tuesday that it had reached a settlement potentially worth more than $20 million with the fast-food chain Chipotle Mexican Grill over violations of worker protection laws, the largest settlement of its kind in the city’s history.

The action, affecting about 13,000 workers, sends a message “that we won’t stand by when workers’ rights are violated,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.

The city said the settlement covered violations of scheduling and sick leave laws from late November 2017 to late April of this year. Under the settlement, hourly employees of Chipotle in New York City will receive $50 for each week that they worked during that period. Employees who left the company before April 30 will have to file a claim to receive their compensation.

In another sign of the fragility of Europe’s supply, flows of oil from Russia to Central Europe have halted over a pipeline payments dispute, raising fears that an “energy war” between Moscow and its European oil customers could escalate.

Authorities in Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic confirmed on Tuesday that Russian oil deliveries from a critical pipeline stopped on Thursday. The three countries, which rely heavily on Russian oil to fuel their economies, are exempted from a European Union decision to start banning imports of Russian oil later this year.

The dispute centers on the southern leg of a Cold War-era pipeline — called Druzhba, the Russian word for friendship — that carries crude oil some 2,500 miles from the Urals to Central Europe.

In his decade of ruling China, Xi Jinping has tried to imbue its people with confidence, telling them that the country is doing very well compared with the chaotic West.

He has told the younger generation that China can finally look at the world as an equal. “It’s no longer as backward,” he said last year.

“The East is rising, and the West is declining,” he declared, at a time when the United States and other Western countries seemed mired in high Covid infection rates, racial tensions and other problems.

In his decade of ruling China, Xi Jinping has tried to imbue its people with confidence, telling them that the country is doing very well compared with the chaotic West.

He has told the younger generation that China can finally look at the world as an equal. “It’s no longer as backward,” he said last year.

“The East is rising, and the West is declining,” he declared, at a time when the United States and other Western countries seemed mired in high Covid infection rates, racial tensions and other problems.

In another sign of the fragility of Europe’s supply, flows of oil from Russia to Central Europe have halted over a pipeline payments dispute, raising fears that an “energy war” between Moscow and its European oil customers could escalate.

Authorities in Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic confirmed on Tuesday that Russian oil deliveries from a critical pipeline stopped on Thursday. The three countries, which rely heavily on Russian oil to fuel their economies, are exempted from a European Union decision to start banning imports of Russian oil later this year.

The dispute centers on the southern leg of a Cold War-era pipeline — called Druzhba, the Russian word for friendship — that carries crude oil some 2,500 miles from the Urals to Central Europe.

Stocks have roared back from their low in June, as investors bet that inflation has peaked, even as the Federal Reserve signals that its campaign to cool the economy by raising interest rates isn’t over.

Higher interest rates are typically seen as bad for share prices, as they increase costs for companies. A chorus of Fed officials have insisted recently that the central bank will need to push interest rates even higher to slow stubbornly high inflation. Yet the S&P 500 has been on an upward march, registering gains for the past three weeks and rising more than 12 percent from its low on June 16.

Rather than worry that a hot economy could embolden the Fed to raise rates more aggressively, investors appear to be choosing to focus on receding recession worries, particularly because many expect the pace of inflation to start to slow.

Stocks have roared back from their low in June, as investors bet that inflation has peaked, even as the Federal Reserve signals that its campaign to cool the economy by raising interest rates isn’t over.

Higher interest rates are typically seen as bad for share prices, as they increase costs for companies. A chorus of Fed officials have insisted recently that the central bank will need to push interest rates even higher to slow stubbornly high inflation. Yet the S&P 500 has been on an upward march, registering gains for the past three weeks and rising more than 12 percent from its low on June 16.

Rather than worry that a hot economy could embolden the Fed to raise rates more aggressively, investors appear to be choosing to focus on receding recession worries, particularly because many expect the pace of inflation to start to slow.