Author: NY TIMES

Investors are poised for a report on Friday to show a slowdown in the pace of hiring in June, building on weak services and manufacturing data, and to firm up their expectations of interest rate cuts starting as soon as September.Signs of lower rates in the near future, which would make it cheaper for consumers and companies to borrow, have typically been accompanied by market rallies.Stock indexes tracking larger companies have been buoyed in recent weeks. The S&P 500 has repeatedly set fresh records and is up more than 16 percent this year. However, the Russell 2000 index, which tracks…

Paal Enger, a rising prospect for a celebrated Norwegian soccer club who traded a game that he loved for another — art theft — that he absolutely relished, culminating in his infamous 1994 heist of Edvard Munch’s masterpiece “The Scream,” died on June 29 in Oslo. He was 57.His death was confirmed by Nils Christian Nordhus, an Oslo-based lawyer who formerly represented Mr. Enger. He did not provide any more details.Mr. Enger, who was born in Oslo on March 26, 1967, rose from the junior system of Vaalerenga, a five-time champion of Norway’s top-level league, now known as Eliteserien, and…

A fresh employment report on Friday showed that unemployment ticked up in June as wage growth cooled, signs that the labor market continued to moderate after years of remarkable strength. That could keep Federal Reserve officials wary as they watch for clues that the job market is on the cusp of cracking.Fed policymakers have two main goals: Achieving low, stable inflation and a strong labor market. They try to accomplish that by setting interest rates, either leaving them low to bolster the economy or raising them to high levels to weigh on growth.Since early 2022, Fed officials have been using…

The night President Emmanuel Macron announced a snap election for France’s National Assembly last month, two words began to buzz around the internet and the media: Popular Front.It was a reference to the left-wing alliance formed in the 1930s to resist rising fascism in Europe and at home. Now, a group of France’s main left-wing parties have banded together to fight what they see as a new danger: Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party, which is closer to taking power than ever before.That left-wing alliance called itself the New Popular Front.“For the first time since the Vichy regime, the…

Bonds have begun to recede into the background, where they belong. As steady earners, they don’t even try to compete with stocks, the prima donnas of the investing world.The first half of the year was mediocre for bonds, but that counted as a colossal improvement. All too frequently in the last three years, bonds demanded attention for the worst of reasons.Now, though, with the annual inflation rate falling, the fundamental outlook for the rest of 2024 and beyond is more positive for bonds than it has been in some time. If you’ve got cash sitting in a money market fund…

As Fourth of July celebrations commenced across the nation, Mark Zuckerberg dropped a video onto his Instagram account that immediately generated hundreds of thousands of views. Indeed, the clip seemed designed for warp speed virality.Behind a fast-moving boat, Mr. Zuckerberg wakeboards while wearing a tuxedo and sunglasses as he sips from a tall boy. The clip is set to Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 anthem “Born in the U.S.A.” For its half-minute duration, Meta’s multibillionaire chief executive shows off his surf technique.“Amazing!” commented Lauren Sánchez, the fiancée of Jeff Bezos.A gaming influencer, @StoneMountain64, wrote, “Now that’s content.”Mr. Zuckerberg replied, “Just doing my…

Count Binface, Elmo and a man wearing a balaclava with a baked-beans print have all had their extremely brief moments in the sun in this British election.As has long been the tradition in Britain, the elections include various joke candidates who often run against prominent politicians. While obviously a bit of comic relief during a serious time, the candidates are still there to make a point: Since the 1970s, they have aimed to highlight and satarize the gap between politics and regular people.On election night, these joke candidates share the stage as they learn who is the winner of their…

It’s hard to name just one noteworthy guest who attended the Fourth of July White Party hosted by the business mogul Michael Rubin and his fiancé, the model Camille Fishel, this year. Tom Brady, Kim and Khloé Kardashian, Megan Fox, Drake and Emily Ratajkowski were only some of the celebrities in bright white outfits who flitted about the couple’s sprawling Long Island estate on Thursday, rubbing elbows and generating content galore.It was the fourth edition of Mr. Rubin and Ms. Fishel’s annual Independence Day bash in the Hamptons where bodycon dresses reign supreme. Paparazzi had lined up outside their property’s…

With his poll numbers dropping and Democrats writing off his candidacy, Joseph R. Biden Jr. sat down with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News in the hope that a major TV interview could help revive a presidential campaign that appeared all but finished.The date was Feb. 9, 2020. Mr. Biden would finish fifth in the New Hampshire primary two days later — but he then staged a remarkable comeback, soaring back to win South Carolina and ultimately fighting his way to the presidency.Four and a half years later, as Mr. Biden faces mounting calls to withdraw from the presidential race, he…

The Vatican said on Friday that it had excommunicated Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the church’s former ambassador to the United States, after finding him guilty of schism for refusing to recognize the authority of Pope Francis and the liberal reforms enacted after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.Archbishop Viganò has emerged as one of the most unbridled conservative critics of Francis, calling him in public statements a “false prophet” and a “servant of Satan,” while embracing right-wing conspiracy theories and lauding former President Donald J. Trump.In 2018, he wrote a 7,000-word letter calling for the pope to resign, accusing…