The crisis cascade

Leaders of the Group of 20 nations are meeting this weekend in New Delhi, and they’re set to issue a communique telling the world that economic uncertainty remains high—thanks in part to “cascading crises” that have presented obstacles to long-term growth. More darkly, the group will warn that the balance of risks to the global outlook is tilted to the downside. The International Monetary Fund warned in April that its outlook for global growth over the next five years was the weakest in more than three decades, and urged nations to avoid economic fragmentation caused by geopolitical tension. It seems the G-20 may be similarly pessimistic. —David E. Rovella

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed disappointment the leaders of China and Russia opted to skip the G-20 leaders’ summit during a private meeting with President Joe Biden, US officials said Friday. “For our Indian partners, there is substantial disappointment that they’re not here and gratitude that we are,” said Kurt Campbell, Indo-Pacific coordinator on the White House National Security Council. Russian leader Vladimir Putin isn’t attending for the second straight year following his invasion of Ukraine, while Chinese leader Xi Jinping didn’t travel to India amid growing tensions between Beijing and New Delhi.

So where is Xi then? He’s at home, hosting leaders of two heavily indebted nations. Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema and Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro will be dropping in for a visit next week. The symbolism of Xi’s decision to stay put instead of traveling to New Delhi arguably sends a message about how he plans to engage with other leaders.

India is studying possible responses to any potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan following discreet inquiries from the US on how it could contribute in the event of a war. About six weeks ago, Defense Chief General Anil Chauhan—India’s top military commander—commissioned a study to examine the wider impact of any war over the island democracy that also involves the US and its allies, and what action India could take in response.

Encouraged by signs that price pressures and the labor market are gradually cooling, US Federal Reserve officials are making an extra effort to preserve the opportunity to accomplish an economic soft landing. How? By not raising interest rates too much and instead holding rates steady at their coming Sept. 19-20 gathering. Here’s your markets wrap.

US household net worth jumped to a record in the second quarter as the value of real estate holdings and stocks rose. It increased $5.5 trillion, or 3.7%, in the April-June period to $154.3 trillion, a Fed report showed Friday. The value of equity holdings climbed about $2.6 trillion in the second quarter, while the value of real estate held by households rose $2.5 billion.

According to excerpts from a new biography, Elon Musk last year curtailed his Starlink satellite service to prevent Ukraine using it for a sea-drone attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in occupied Crimea, Marc Champion writes in Bloomberg Opinion. He is said to have worried the move could become a mini-Pearl Harbor and even trigger nuclear retaliation. “How am I in this war?’’ he’s said to have asked. It was a good question and has a simple answer, Champion writes: Musk is in this war because he did the right thing 19 months ago.

If you want to know how quickly electric vehicles might spread across the US, just look at California. In the past five years, EVs have gone from 2% of new-car sales in the state to 22%. The pace of adoption in California picked up significantly once EVs reached 5% of new-car sales, a threshold at which preferences start to flip for mainstream car buyers. California was one of the first major car markets to reach that tipping point, in 2018, and so far 23 countries have been added to the list.

About a mile off the tip of Long Island’s North Fork, past a patch of rough sea and a long, sharp reef, there’s a wild, sequestered place known as Plum Island. Some may have heard of it: It’s been rumored to be the origin point of Lyme disease and the Montauk Monster, and made a cameo in The Silence of the Lambs. Some call it the Area 51 of the East Coast.

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