Stocks are falling as a worried world upsets investors.


Daily Business Briefing

September 20, 2021 at 7:17 PM ET

September 20, 2021 at 7:17 PM ET

pictureSteel coils at the ThyssenKrupp plant in Duisburg, Germany.  The price of iron ore, a key component of steel, fell, causing shares of mining companies to drop sharply.
Credit…Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters

Stocks on Wall Street fell on Monday morning as European indices fell amid a string of concerns for investors. Chinese real estate giant EvergrandeRising energy prices in Europe and questions about how the Federal Reserve will manage its exit from its major bond-buying program.

Futures said the S&P 500 is set to open 1.1 percent lower on Monday. S&P has fallen for two weeks in a row, down more than 2 percent since it broke the record on September 2. Nasdaq composite futures fell 1 percent.

In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1.8 percent. The FTSE 100 fell 1.6 percent in the UK, the DAX fell 2.2 percent in Germany and the CAC 40 in France fell 2.1 percent.

Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 3.3 percent to its lowest level in nearly a year. Most other Asian markets were closed for the holiday.

Investors have pushed Hong Kong-listed shares of some of China’s biggest real estate developers into the red amid concerns about China’s future. Evergrande’s growing debt distress can spread, affecting the funding capabilities of other developers during high regulatory scrutiny. Hong Kong shares of Chinese developer Sinic Holding fell 87 percent after regulators in a Chinese province said they would penalize developers for certain selling practices.

In commodity markets, High gas prices in Europe They send energy bills that rise and cause factories, such as composters, to cover in Britain. And the price of iron ore, the main raw material for steel, fell, sharply lowering the inventory of mining companies. Shares of Anglo American, for example, fell 7.9 percent. and Glencore shares fell more than 5 percent.

More than a dozen central banks will meet and set policy this week, including those in Japan, the UK and Switzerland.

But most traders are likely to focus on the Federal Reserve, which is expected to discuss a timeline Wednesday for when it will begin slowing its bond purchases aimed at supporting the economy. Some economists expect the Fed to signal that it will start reducing bond purchases later this year. The central bank can then start raising interest rates the following year.

Fed will update Economic growth and inflation forecasts.

Investors in the United States will have a few more data points to guide them this week. The National Association of Realtors will release data on home sales activity on Wednesday. Existing home sales are expected to drop slightly in July after two months of gains, according to economists polled by Bloomberg.

On Tuesday, investors will also watch FedEx’s quarterly financial report for the three months ending August, as supply chain issues could hamper the company’s revenue. General Mills will release its quarterly earnings report on Wednesday.

Alexandra Stevenson contributing reporting.

Credit…Hilary Swift for The New York Times

While there is a Delta variant of the coronavirus delayed With many US companies’ plans to bring their employees back to their offices en masse, New York City employees flocking to Midtown Manhattan are discovering many of their favorite haunts for a quick cup of coffee and a muffin in the morning or a sandwich or salad in the morning. lunch is gone. Some of the ones that are open are operating during limited hours or with limited menus.

At the end of 2020, the number of chain stores in Manhattan—everything from pharmacies to clothing retailers and restaurants—was down more than 17 percent from 2019. Urban Future Centeris a nonprofit research and policy organization.

Across Manhattan, the number of existing ground-floor stores that were normally the site of busy restaurants and clothing stores has increased. According to a report by real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, a quarter of ground-floor storefronts in Lower Manhattan are for rent, with about a third available in Herald Square.

Starbucks has permanently closed 44 of its Manhattan outlets since March last year. Pret a Manger has reopened only half of the 60 locations it had in New York before the pandemic. Numerous delis, independent restaurants, and smaller local chains went black.

But in a city where one person’s decline is another’s opportunity, some restaurant chains are taking advantage of record low retail rents to open stores or expand their presence in New York.

Food and beverage companies signed 23 new leases in Manhattan in the second quarter, while leading apparel retailers signed 10 new leases, according to commercial real estate services firm CBRE.

Shack the Shack and Popeye Louisiana Kitchen was among those signing new leases this year. Burger chain Sonic has signed a lease for its first New York City outpost. Philippines-based chicken restaurant Jollibee, which has a devoted following, plans to open a large store. flagship The restaurant in Times Square.

Credit…Brandon Thibodeaux for The New York Times

Lanson Jones, an avid tennis player in Houston, didn’t want to spoil his health during the pandemic by getting a vaccine.

Then he caught Covid. Yet he chose not to be vaccinated. Instead, he turned to another treatment: monoclonal antibodies, a lab-made one-year drug no less experimental than a vaccine.

Mr. Jones, 65, was one of more than one million Covid patients, including Donald J. Trump and Joe Rogan, who this month received an infusion of antibodies in a glass-walled chamber at Houston Methodist Hospital.

The federal government is currently covering the cost of the treatment, which is about $2,100 per dose, and has told states to expect shipments to be scaled down due to impending shortages. Seven Southern states account for 70 percent of orders.

Among the anti-vaccine lies circulating in the United States, monoclonal antibodies have become the rare coronavirus drug with almost universal acceptance. The infusions, championed by both mainstream doctors and conservative radio presenters, have kept the country’s death toll – climbing at a rapid rate of around 2,000 a day and – from rising even higher.

“People you love and trust haven’t said anything negative about it,” said Mr. Jones about antibody therapy. And I’ve heard nothing but negative things about the side effects of the vaccine and how quickly the vaccine is being developed.”

But the popularity of the treatment is straining the US healthcare system.

Infusions take about an hour and a half, including later monitoring, and require constant attention from nurses at a time when challenging situations often can’t separate them.

D., an infectious disease specialist and chief of population health at the San Diego Family Health Centers. “It’s choking up resources, it’s hard to give, and a vaccine costs $20 and can prevent almost all of it,” said Christian Ramers. community based provider. Forcing antibodies while underestimating vaccines is “like investing in car insurance without investing in brakes,” he said.

Credit…Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times

The largest US accounting firms have perfected a highly effective behind-the-scenes system to support their interests in Washington. Jesse Drucker and Danny Hakim featured in The New York Times.

Tax attorneys take top jobs in the Treasury Department, where they write policies for their former corporate clients that are often out of favor, often with the expectation that they will soon return to their former employers. Firms reward them with higher titles and higher wages, according to public records reviewed by The Times and interviews with current and former government and industry officials.

Many of the industry’s veterans have endorsed government posts, loopholes long exploited by their old firms, giving tax breaks to former customers, and undoing efforts to rein in tax havens – to enormous effect.

Some former industry veterans even said they see this so-called revolving door as a big part of why tax policy has been so skewed in favor of the rich, at the expense of almost everyone. President Biden and Congressional Democrats are trying to overhaul parts of the tax code that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest Americans.

This revolving door, where people go back and forth between the public and private sectors, is nothing new. But the ability of the world’s largest accounting firms to place the best lawyers in government’s most important tax policy jobs has largely escaped public scrutiny.

“Lawyers from the private sector need to find out who their new clients are, and it’s not their old clients. It is the American people,” he said. Stephen Shay, retired tax partner at Ropes & Gray Served in the Treasury during the Reagan and Obama administrations. “A certain percentage of people never make this transition. It’s really hard to make the transition when you know where you’re going in two years, and that’s for your old customers. Incentives are bad.”



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