U.S. stocks on Wednesday suffered one of the biggest sell-offs of the year. The S&P 500 sank almost 3% and the Dow plunged 800 points. The yield curve inverted for the first time since 2007, in an ominous sign of a looming recession. Even cryptocurrencies got clobbered. —Josh Petri

Here are today’s top stories

President Donald Trump, seeking to deflect criticism that his trade war with China is harming the U.S. economic outlook as stocks tumble, lashed out yet again at Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 answered more than five hours of questions while sitting in a gazebo outside his private island estate. Why not speak up in the grand main house? “Too many girls,” Epstein said. And with that, the tape began to roll. 

A former Ethiopian Airlines pilot said he spent months pleading with managers to do more to understand the potential risks of a new Boeing 737 Max flight control feature after a fatal crash in Indonesia. Then one of Ethiopian’s own 737 Max aircraft crashed.

China refused port visits to Hong Kong by two U.S. warships amid continued trade tensions and diplomatic spats between the two nations. 

An otherwise peaceful sit-in at Hong Kong International Airport turned tense when democracy protesters detained a man they suspected of being a security agent. The standoff is slowing the financial center’s economy.

WeWork on Wednesday released the financial paperwork for its planned IPO. Everything about the company is over the top, writes Shira Ovide in Bloomberg Opinion: Its growth, loses, potential conflicts of interest and financial gymnastics.

What’s Joe Weisenthal thinking about? The Bloomberg news director is, like others, looking at super-low yields around the world and wondering how long this can possibly go on. But in terms of sustainability, the “Heads You Win, Tails You Don't Lose” nature of the bond market is even more interesting at the moment.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

• The FAA banned select Apple Macbook Pro laptops on flights.
• We’re killing the world’s plants faster than we thought.
• Extreme heat leads to extreme energy prices in Texas.
• Trump’s new farm tariffs are no match for China’s retaliatory duties.
• Not even coffee can escape the global economic downturn.
• The alleged Capital One hacker may have hit 30 other companies.
• The $110,000 bartender you don’t have to tip.

What you’ll want to read in Climate Changed

South America’s Glaciers Have a Big Problem

Chile has one of the world’s largest reserves of fresh water outside the north and south poles, but the abundant glaciers that are the source of that precious commodity are melting fast. That’s not just an ecological disaster in the making, it’s rapidly becoming an economic and political dilemma for the government of Latin America’s richest nation. 

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