In describing this year’s stock market, observers have been big on comparison rather than explanation. Tech is surging while banks fall. Growth is rising as value drops. Big companies thrive while small ones struggle. None of these, however, offers an organizing principle. Now, someone has cracked the code. Vincent Deluard, director of global macro strategy at brokerage StoneX Group, said 2020 has been the “bear market for humans.” The problem, it turns out, is people. —David E. Rovella

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Here are today’s top stories

Is inflation on the way back? With trillions of dollars at stake, the great debate is heating up. Has the hugely expensive fight against the pandemic and its global downturn put developed economies on a path to rising prices on a scale not seen in decades, or is the virus simply exacerbating conditions of the past dozen years, during which deflation rather than overheating has been the big threat?

Was it all for nothing? With Spain, France and Germany recording the highest number of coronavirus cases since they emerged from lockdown, the danger that Europe blows its best chance of taming the pathogen grows by the day, Chris Bryant writes in Bloomberg Opinion. Here is the latest on the pandemic.

China is looking for friends on the continent to push back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to block cooperation with Beijing. Foreign Minister Wang Yi kicked off a week-long tour Tuesday, with planned stops in Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, France and Germany.

The Trump administration has yet to tell U.S. companies how they should go about delaying employee payroll taxes, leaving major employers like Walmart, Macy’s and Procter & Gamble at sea. Some companies have shied away from the White House executive order because, after all, the taxes must eventually be paid. Only Congress can change that.

Wisconsin’s governor declared a state of emergency Tuesday after some protesters, following a peaceful demonstration, set dozens of buildings on fire in Kenosha, where police shot an unarmed Black man seven times in the back at close range, reportedly in view of his children. Jacob Blake’s father told a Chicago newspaper that his son, the victim, is paralyzed from the waist down. Demonstrations were held in several other cities as well.

Hurricane Laura threatens the U.S. with $12 billion in damage as it approaches the Gulf Coast. Tens of thousands of U.S. residents may be forced to evacuate, which could make things even more dangerous thanks to the pandemic.

New York and New Jersey joined 20 other states in suing Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over major cuts to Postal Service capacity they allege are intended to suppress mail-in voting. The cuts were done without clearance from the postal regulator or public comment as required by Congress. the states said. They seek a court order barring further changes and restoring the eliminated operations.

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Southern Tourist Towns Brace for a Covid Winter

Summer tourism is a $7 billion business in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a favorite vacation spot for Americans in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern states. This year, the coastal destination’s decisions about how, and when, to protect people from the coronavirus transformed it into a national pariah—and a harbinger of what was to come across the South and West. Now, as fall approaches, tourist towns like Myrtle Beach are taking stock. As bad as the summer was for them financially, the winter may be far worse.

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