For Americans who expected inflation to peak this summer, a consumer price report for August seems to have dashed those hopes.
But for the rest of the world, what comes next could be really depressing. That’s because the US Federal Reserve and Chair Jerome Powell will now feel justified in taking even bigger steps with interest rates to tamp down prices.
The cure may be worse than the sickness, Marcus Ashworth writes in Bloomberg Opinion. If the Fed raises rates aggressively, the effects will be felt outside its national purview, he warns. Parts of the global economy will break, the worldwide downturn will blow back on the US, and then everyone will find themselves running headlong into the dark realm of unintended consequences. —David E. Rovella
Bloomberg is tracking the coronavirus pandemic and the progress of global vaccination efforts.
Here are today’s top stories
US railroads and unions reached a tentative deal early Thursday morning, a breakthrough that looks to avert a labor disruption that risked adding supply-chain strains to the world’s largest economy. After 20 straight hours in the latest round of talks, which included President Joe Biden, the companies and union negotiators sealed a preliminary deal.
Biden’s poll numbers have recovered sharply from a summer low following a string of landmark legislative successes and a decline in gasoline prices, a new survey shows.
But Ray Dalio came out with a gloomy prediction for stocks and the US economy after renewed inflation fears sent equities diving this week. “It looks like interest rates will have to rise a lot,” the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates said. “This will bring private sector credit growth down, which will bring [down] private sector spending and, hence, the economy down with it.”
Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, now almost seven months in and having claimed the lives of possibly tens of thousands of Ukrainians, appears to be lifting Russian industrial production and helping his economy outperform many of the worst forecasts amid sanctions.
At the same time, the Kremlin is doing severe damage to European nations that have steadfastly opposed its aggression. Germany is in advanced talks to take over Uniper and two other large gas importers to avoid a collapse of its energy market.
Surging gas prices and Moscow’s squeeze on supplies have already prompted a series of bailouts. But those measures are increasingly dwarfed by the scale of the crisis, and there’s a risk that systemic energy providers may collapse without more robust government support.
The White House slammed Republican governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas for busing migrants to Washington, New York and Massachusetts without any advance notice (except to one cable channel), calling their actions “cruel” and “shameful” political stunts. Some of the migrants said they had been misled as to where they were being transported. Now Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of California is calling for a federal criminal investigation.
Transitional may be the best way to describe the past few years for MBA students and schools. Since 2020, business school leaders, educators, and employees have been in a state of constant adjustment: first fully remote, then partly hybrid, then finally incorporating as much in-person instruction as possible. For many of the 117 programs in this year’s Best B-Schools list, the past few months have marked the fullest return to normalcy since the onset of the pandemic. What does a return to campus look like—and are the pandemic adjustments fully a thing of the past? Here is Bloomberg Businessweek’s best B-schools for these very strange times.
What you’ll need to know tomorrow
- Russian convicts offered freedom—if they join Putin’s war on Ukraine.
- Adobe tumbles after deal to buy design startup Figma for $20 billion.
- A Chinese spy wanted GE’s secrets, but the US got China’s instead.
- Ethereum finishes its long-awaited energy-saving “Merge” upgrade.
- These are the US areas most at risk of a housing downturn.
- US mortgage rates climb above 6% for the first time since 2008.
- Gap ends partnership with Kanye West’s Yeezy after a public fight.
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The Looting of Cambodia’s Historical Treasures |
In the aftermath of decades of war, many of Cambodia’s historical treasures vanished. Some found their way to the most famous museums in the world. One intermediary, the late Douglas Latchford, was known for buying and selling beautiful, intricate statues built into the nation’s sacred temples. In this episode of Bloomberg’s Storylines, we meet the man who has made it his mission to get those statues—and others like them—back home.
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