A recent run-up in consumer prices cooled slightly in August, signaling that although inflation is higher than normal, the White House and Federal Reserve may be beginning to see the slowdown in price gains they have been hoping for.

Policymakers have consistently argued that a surprisingly strong burst of inflation this year has been tied to pandemic-related quirks and should prove temporary, and most economists agree that prices will climb more slowly as businesses adjust and supply chains return to normal. The major question hanging over the economy’s future has been how much and how quickly the jump will fade.

Tuesday’s data suggested that a surge in Delta-variant coronavirus cases is weighing on airfares and hotel rates, but it also showed that price increases for key products — like cars — are beginning to moderate, helping to cool off overall inflation. The Consumer Price Index rose 5.3 percent in August from the prior year, data released by the Labor...

The day before the House Democrats’ self-imposed deadline for completing committee work on their vast social policy bill, tensions were rising in their ranks on Tuesday over how to pay for popular elements of it, such as child care access, universal prekindergarten, and expanded health insurance.

Progressive senators, led by Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, pushed back hard on the decision by senior Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee to focus a $2.1 trillion package of tax increases on income taxes, not levies on the vast fortunes of tycoons like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

They vowed to continue their drive to tax, for the first time, billions of dollars in assets that grow each year and are not taxed if they are not sold.

“The wealth tax is not something that a bunch of politicians sit around and think, ‘Great idea.’ It’s something that the American people say we need for basic fairness,”...

It is a story that now happens just about every September: Apple introduced new iPhones that have slightly bigger screens, faster speeds and better cameras — but no new major advances.

In a prerecorded infomercial, Apple executives framed the improvements in the new iPhone 13 as significant innovations, but they result in a device that looks and performs much like the iPhones that Apple touted last year.

Apple said the new iPhones have a brighter screen, longer battery life and more powerful cameras and computer processors. Having already pushed the screen nearly to the edge of the device, Apple slightly increased its size by reducing the small notch at the top of the screen. Apple kept the same flat-edge design of the phone that it has used in other recent models.

Apple is hoping that by adding new features and making slight design improvements, customers will keep shelling out more money. It is a strategy that has worked for a long time. The iPhone, now in...

It is a story that now happens just about every September: Apple introduced new iPhones that have slightly bigger screens, faster speeds and better cameras — but no new major advances.

In a prerecorded infomercial, Apple executives framed the improvements in the new iPhone 13 as significant innovations, but they result in a device that looks and performs much like the iPhones that Apple touted last year.

Apple said the new iPhones have a brighter screen, longer battery life and more powerful cameras and computer processors. Having already pushed the screen nearly to the edge of the device, Apple slightly increased its size by reducing the small notch at the top of the screen. Apple kept the same flat-edge design of the phone that it has used in other recent models.

Apple is hoping that by adding new features and making slight design improvements, customers will keep shelling out more money. It is a strategy that has worked for a long time. The iPhone, now in...

It is a story that now happens just about every September: Apple introduced new iPhones that have slightly bigger screens, faster speeds and better cameras — but no new major advances.

In a prerecorded infomercial, Apple executives framed the improvements in the new iPhone 13 as significant innovations, but they result in a device that looks and performs much like the iPhones that Apple touted last year.

Apple said the new iPhones have a brighter screen, longer battery life and more powerful cameras and computer processors. Having already pushed the screen nearly to the edge of the device, Apple slightly increased its size by reducing the small notch at the top of the screen. Apple kept the same flat-edge design of the phone that it has used in other recent models.

Apple is hoping that by adding new features and making slight design improvements, customers will keep shelling out more money. It is a strategy that has worked for a long time. The iPhone, now in...

It is a story that now happens just about every September: Apple introduced new iPhones that have slightly bigger screens, faster speeds and better cameras — but no new major advances.

In a prerecorded infomercial, Apple executives framed the improvements in the new iPhone 13 as significant innovations, but they result in a device that looks and performs much like the iPhones that Apple touted last year.

Apple said the new iPhones have a brighter screen, longer battery life and more powerful cameras and computer processors. Having already pushed the screen nearly to the edge of the device, Apple slightly increased its size by reducing the small notch at the top of the screen. Apple kept the same flat-edge design of the phone that it has used in other recent models.

Apple is hoping that by adding new features and making slight design improvements, customers will keep shelling out more money. It is a strategy that has worked for a long time. The iPhone, now in...

China Evergrande, the troubled property giant that has become a symbol of debt and excess in the world’s second-largest economy, said on Tuesday that it faced “tremendous” financial pressure and had hired restructuring experts to “explore all feasible solutions” for its future.

The company’s fate, however, remains unclear, as it struggles in a country where business troubles often attract the direct attention — and the direct meddling — of Beijing.

Evergrande’s admission that its finances have taken a sharp turn sent its already battered shares down by 12 percent on Tuesday. Its shares have lost more than four-fifths of their value over the past year.

Its foreign-traded bonds plunged, too, leaving global investors in some cases with investments valued at roughly 25 cents to the dollar.

Senator Elizabeth Warren says Wells Fargo has run out of time to fix the many internal problems that have harmed its customers.

In a letter to the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome H. Powell, on Monday, Ms. Warren asked the Fed to force the financial giant to break off its core banking activities, like offering checking and savings accounts and loans, from its other financial services.

Divorcing Wall Street-centric work — which can include managing investment funds and providing financial market sales and trading services — from the bank would ensure that Wells Fargo’s everyday customers did not continue to suffer, Ms. Warren wrote. The Fed could accomplish this, she explained, by revoking Wells Fargo’s financial holding company license — essentially making it impossible for the company to operate any nonbanking businesses.

“Continuing to allow this giant bank with a broken culture to conduct business in its current form poses substantial risks to consumers and...

The news release went out at 9:30 a.m. Monday, just as the U.S. stock market opened. It claimed to be from Walmart and had some big news for the cryptocurrency industry: The nation’s largest retailer would soon begin accepting payment in Litecoin, a digital currency.

The announcement appeared real enough that several media outlets wrote it up. Even the Twitter account for the Litecoin Foundation, which promotes the use of the currency, touted the release in a post. The value of Litecoin jumped more than 30 percent before Walmart put out a statement saying the news was false.

The newest thing in finance had apparently fallen prey to one of the oldest investor hoaxes around — a classic pump-and-dump scheme. Someone issued a false news release, likely taking advantage of the general hoopla around cryptocurrency to stoke enthusiasm for Litecoin, which is far less popular than Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Litecoin’s price jumped to about $230 from around $175...

The S.E.C. chair Gary Gensler will testify before the Senate Banking Committee today, after five months on the job. Since his confirmation, his public statements have generated much debate, many headlines and more than a few market movements. This morning, based on his prepared remarks, he’ll make the case for additional resources to achieve a more expansive agenda than many of his predecessors at the commission.

Here’s what to expect on some hot-button issues:

Gensler wants to “freshen up” the rules. To promote efficiency and competition, he’s considering structural issues, like whether there is too much concentration among market makers, and conflicts of interest, like those arising from payment for order flow. Speeding up transaction settlements, which now take about two business days, is also a goal Gensler notes in his remarks, and one that Republican senators want him to pursue, a committee aide said.

When it comes to crypto, buyers beware. Gensler will...

Facebook has approached academics and policy experts about forming a commission to advise it on global election-related matters, said five people with knowledge of the discussions, a move that would allow the social network to shift some of its political decision-making to an advisory body.

The proposed commission could decide on matters such as the viability of political ads and what to do about election-related misinformation, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions were confidential. Facebook is expected to announce the commission this fall in preparation for the 2022 midterm elections, they said, though the effort is preliminary and could still fall apart.

Outsourcing election matters to a panel of experts could help Facebook sidestep criticism of bias by political groups, two of the people said. The company has been blasted in recent years by conservatives, who have accused Facebook of suppressing their voices, as well...

Across Britain, a slow-burning problem has ignited into a supply chain crisis in recent weeks as restaurants, supermarkets and food manufacturers warned customers that some popular products may be temporarily unavailable because of a shortage of truck drivers.

McDonald’s milkshakes, Nando’s chicken, Haribo sweets and supermarket milk are among the items that have become scarce in Britain over the summer. But it goes far beyond food: Nearly every industry is complaining about delivery problems. And already organizations are warning that logistics issues could upend the arrival of Christmas toys and the trimmings crucial to family holiday meals.

A long-running shortage of truck drivers has been exacerbated by a post-Brexit exodus of European Union workers. Adding to the problem are disruptions to new driver training because of the pandemic. And for years, the trucking industry has struggled to attract new workers to a job that has traditionally been low paid and...

Delta Air Lines has opened a new front in the push by companies to get employees vaccinated against the coronavirus. Yesterday, Delta said that workers who aren’t vaccinated by Nov. 1 will have to pay an additional $200 per month to remain on the airline’s health plan. More companies are considering imposing such fees on the unvaccinated, following the airline’s lead.

The shift from incentives like extra pay or time off to get the shot to financial penalties for choosing not to is a noteworthy change in corporate vaccination initiatives. Companies are taking a tougher stance even if they, like Delta, stop short of mandating that workers get the vaccine or lose their jobs.

Recent hospital stays because of Covid have cost Delta about $50,000 per employee, and every one of those workers was not fully vaccinated, Delta’s C.E.O., Ed Bastian, said in a memo to staff. Like most large employers, Delta insures its work force, meaning it pays health costs directly and hires...

It’s a strategy that’s almost guaranteed to produce skimpy profits, and banks are not thrilled to be doing it, analysts say. But they have little choice.

“Widget companies make widgets, and banks make loans,” said Jason Goldberg, a bank analyst at Barclays in New York. “This is what they do. It is what they want to do.”

By putting their customers’ deposits into investments such as loans or securities, like Treasury bonds, banks make the money needed to pay interest on those deposits and pocket a profit. When the economy is growing — like now — banks usually have no problem finding borrowers as consumers make big purchases and businesses expand. These loans provide better returns than Treasury bonds, which are usually reserved for times of uncertainty because banks will accept their lower rate of return in place of a risky loan.

The investment company Nuveen has spent $120 million renovating its office tower at 730 Third Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, overhauling the lobby, devoting the second floor to amenities and refurbishing a 22nd-floor terrace.

And the finishing touch? Two beehives on a seventh-floor terrace.

Following the latest trend in office perks, Nuveen hired a beekeeper to teach tenants about their tiny new neighbors and harvest honey for them to take home.

“In conversations with tenants, I get more questions about that than anything else,” said Brian Wallick, Nuveen’s director of New York office and life science investments.

Office workers who were sent home during pandemic lockdowns often sought refuge in nature, tending to houseplants, setting up bird feeders and sitting outdoors with their laptops. Now, as companies try to coax skittish employees back to the office and building owners compete for tenants when vacancy rates are soaring, many have hit on the idea of...

When Jerome H. Powell speaks at the Federal Reserve’s biggest annual conference on Friday, he will do so at a tense economic moment, as prices rise rapidly while millions of jobs remain missing from the labor market. That combination promises to test the meaning of a quiet revolution the central bank chair ushered in one year ago.

Mr. Powell used his remarks at last year’s conference, known as the Jackson Hole economic symposium and held by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, to announce that Fed officials would no longer raise interest rates to cool off the economy just because joblessness was falling and inflation was expected to heat up. They first wanted proof that prices were climbing sustainably, and they would welcome gains slightly above their 2 percent goal.

He was laying groundwork for a far more patient Fed approach, acknowledging the grim reality that across advanced economies, interest rates, growth and inflation had spent the 21st century slipping...

Only 6 percent of board seats at Japanese companies are held by women. After years of unkept promises, these businesses are now facing pressure both at home and abroad to diversify.

Rand V. Araskog, who as chief executive of the ITT Corporation in the 1980s and ’90s successfully refocused an unwieldy conglomerate that at various points ran the Sheraton hotel chain, owned the New York Knicks and Rangers and made Wonder Bread, died on Aug. 9 at his home in Palm Beach, Fla. He was 89.

His death was confirmed by his daughters, Kathleen Araskog Thomas and Julie K. Araskog. No cause was given.

A West Point graduate who worked at the Department of Defense before pursuing a career in business, Mr. Araskog took the helm of ITT in 1979, when the company, then known as the International Telephone and Telegraph Corp., was the 11th largest industrial concern in the United States, with $19.4 billion in annual sales (in today’s dollars about $73 billion, putting it on a par with IBM and Procter & Gamble). Its global holdings included pulp mills, baking companies, a large network of hotels as well as financial services and telecommunications and...

When Jerome H. Powell speaks at the Federal Reserve’s biggest annual conference on Friday, he will do so at a tense economic moment, as prices rise rapidly while millions of jobs remain missing from the labor market. That combination promises to test the meaning of a quiet revolution the central bank chair ushered in one year ago.

Mr. Powell used his remarks at last year’s conference, known as the Jackson Hole economic symposium and held by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, to announce that Fed officials would no longer raise interest rates to cool off the economy just because joblessness was falling and inflation was expected to heat up. They first wanted proof that prices were climbing sustainably, and they would welcome gains slightly above their 2 percent goal.

He was laying groundwork for a far more patient Fed approach, acknowledging the grim reality that across advanced economies, interest rates, growth and inflation had spent the 21st century slipping...

Only 6 percent of board seats at Japanese companies are held by women. After years of unkept promises, these businesses are now facing pressure both at home and abroad to diversify.

It’s a strategy that’s almost guaranteed to produce skimpy profits, and banks are not thrilled to be doing it, analysts say. But they have little choice.

“Widget companies make widgets, and banks make loans,” said Jason Goldberg, a bank analyst at Barclays in New York. “This is what they do. It is what they want to do.”

By putting their customers’ deposits into investments such as loans or securities, like Treasury bonds, banks make the money needed to pay interest on those deposits and pocket a profit. When the economy is growing — like now — banks usually have no problem finding borrowers as consumers make big purchases and businesses expand. These loans provide better returns than Treasury bonds, which are usually reserved for times of uncertainty because banks will accept their lower rate of return in place of a risky loan.

Rand V. Araskog, who as chief executive of the ITT Corporation in the 1980s and ’90s successfully refocused an unwieldy conglomerate that at various points ran the Sheraton hotel chain, owned the New York Knicks and Rangers and made Wonder Bread, died on Aug. 9 at his home in Palm Beach, Fla. He was 89.

His death was confirmed by his daughters, Kathleen Araskog Thomas and Julie K. Araskog. No cause was given.

A West Point graduate who worked at the Department of Defense before pursuing a career in business, Mr. Araskog took the helm of ITT in 1979, when the company, then known as the International Telephone and Telegraph Corp., was the 11th largest industrial concern in the United States, with $19.4 billion in annual sales (in today’s dollars about $73 billion, putting it on a par with IBM and Procter & Gamble). Its global holdings included pulp mills, baking companies, a large network of hotels as well as financial services and telecommunications and...

It was moving day in the California desert, and Roger Federer was up before dawn. We met on the tarmac in Thermal, a short drive from Indian Wells, where Federer had lost the day before in the final of the 2018 BNP Paribas Open to Juan Martín del Potro. Just the previous month, Federer had capped his remarkable late-careers urge by reclaiming the No.1 ranking for the first time in more than five years. At 36, he was the oldest player to hold the spot since the A.T.P. publish edits first rankings in 1973. But Indian Wells was a rather disappointing sequel. He served for the title against del Potro at 5-4 in the third set and failed to finish him off despite holding three match points.

It was the sort of reversal of fortune that happened rarely — but more often to Federer than to his rivals at the top of the game. He has lost more than 20 times after holding match point, while Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have lost fewer than 10 such matches. “I know it’s bad to say...

When Jerome H. Powell speaks at the Federal Reserve’s biggest annual conference on Friday, he will do so at a tense economic moment, as prices rise rapidly while millions of jobs remain missing from the labor market. That combination promises to test the meaning of a quiet revolution the central bank chair ushered in one year ago.

Mr. Powell used his remarks at last year’s conference, known as the Jackson Hole economic symposium and held by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, to announce that Fed officials would no longer raise interest rates to cool off the economy just because joblessness was falling and inflation was expected to heat up. They first wanted proof that prices were climbing sustainably, and they would welcome gains slightly above their 2 percent goal.

He was laying groundwork for a far more patient Fed approach, acknowledging the grim reality that across advanced economies, interest rates, growth and inflation had spent the 21st century slipping...