Evening Briefing

The Trump administration rejected a compromise offer by Democrats Friday to save a second national bailout package. Negotiations on the new coronavirus relief bill edged toward the brink of collapse with the White House and Congressional Republicans at odds with Democrats over several critical issues. Trump has threatened to take unilateral action to extend some benefits, but may not have any power to do so, given that the Constitution gives Congress power of the purse. The U.S. labor market continued to regain ground in July, though at a slower pace as Covid-19 infections surged, now with almost 4.9 million confirmed cases and 160,000 dead. The unemployment rate is 10.2%, but a broader gauge of joblessness is at 16.5%, with 13 million fewer jobs than in February, when the recession started. Higher-frequency indicators are more negative, however, as businesses use up the last of their federal loans and reduced unemployment benefits pressure consumer spending. —David E. Rovella

Here are today’s top stories

British tourists face more disruption, with France potentially the next country on a U.K. travel restrictions list. Globally, coronavirus cases now exceed 19 million with more than 713,000 lives lost. Infections are rising in Spain, Poland, Japan, Vietnam and across Africa. Here is the latest news on the pandemic.

U.S. President Donald Trump is accelerating efforts to make China a central pillar of his re-election bid, placing sanctions on 11 Chinese officials and their allies in Hong Kong, including Chief Executive Carrie Lam, and issuing executive orders prohibiting U.S. residents from doing business with Chinese-owned TikTok and WeChat apps, starting 45 days from now. For American tech companies, there could be collateral damage.

Warren Buffett was pretty quiet during the first months of the pandemic, but that’s starting to change. Berkshire Hathaway is buying again, putting more of its $137 billion cash pile to work buying up these assets.

New York City will be the only major U.S. school system to hold in-person classes this fall, after Governor Andrew Cuomo said classrooms statewide could remain open with tight precautions.

Ice covering the Arctic Ocean reached its lowest level for July since at least 1979 as temperatures spiked in the region, leaving large stretches of Russia’s Siberian coast mostly ice-free.

Working from home during a pandemic is hard enough. Now many across the Northeast are being forced to do it without electricity. Almost 1.2 million homes and businesses from New England to Delaware are still without power after Tropical Storm Isaias battered the region. Utility company Eversource Energy is under investigation for what Connecticut officials deemed its failure to adequately prepare for and respond to massive outages that have left transit, businesses and more than 400,000 residents without power four days after the storm, with restoration now projected for the middle of next week.

What’s Emily Barrett thinking about? The Bloomberg U.S. rates reporter wants to lend some perspective on all those huge numbers out there. The Treasury said it expects to sell more than $2 trillion of debt in the second half of the year, and the next auctions of notes and bonds will be among the largest on record. The Treasury market isn’t buckling as the debt pile mounts, Emily says: After Fitch placed a warning on America’s credit rating, noting the lack of a “credible fiscal consolidation plan,” Treasury officials expressed satisfaction with a quarter in which they sold “record amounts of debt at record low interest rates.” The Trump administration may be impressed with the strength of investor demand for U.S. debt, but the other source of astronomical numbers is the Fed, which is still purchasing $80 billion of Treasuries a month.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

Sponsor Content by AllianceBernstein

Low yields plus rising defaults seemingly leave little ground for bond investors seeking safety or income—or both. But for investors who remain flexible, these objectives aren’t as distant as you may think. Read our midyear bond investing outlook.

What you’ll want to read in Bloomberg Opinion

The Odds of Catching Covid-19 on a Flight

Faye Flam writes in Bloomberg Opinion that if you decide to fly, the odds you will pick up the coronavirus are low. Despite the known dangers of crowded, enclosed spaces, planes have not been the sites of so-called superspreading events. That’s not to say flying is perfectly safe. But the only way to move forward through this long pandemic is to start thinking in terms of risk-benefit ratios. Very little is without risk, but perhaps some risks are small enough to warrant taking.

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