Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - US pensions put "at risk"

Investment professionals are warning that a Republican campaign seeking to wipe ESG off the financial map puts at risk the savings of ordinary Americans caught in the political crossfire. Environmental, social and governance investing is now under attack in the world's largest economy. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis this week banned state pension funds from screening for ESG risks. Texas is seeking to isolate financial firms it says are hostile toward the fossil-fuel industry. And in Arizona, Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters has characterized ESG scores as an existential threat to America. The development represents a rapid escalation of aggression toward an investing form that few people even knew existed five years ago. But the finance industry, which has increasingly embraced products promising to address issues like climate change and inequality, is striking back, arguing that Republican policies put the financial security of US savers in serious jeopardy. —Natasha Solo-Lyons

Bloomberg is tracking the coronavirus pandemic and the progress of global vaccination efforts.

A federal magistrate judge in Florida has ordered the Justice Department to release a redacted version of the affidavit laying out the government’s case for executing a search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.

Federal Reserve officials stressed the need to keep raising interest rates even as they reserved judgment on how big they should go at their meeting next month.

Esther George, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Stocks rallied and bond yields fell, with traders awaiting Jerome Powell’s keynote for clues on how much further the Federal Reserve will pump the brakes on the economy to bring inflation back under control. The S&P 500 closed near session highs, trimming a selloff that knocked down the market earlier in the week. Following the slowest trading day of 2022 for US equities, volume was once again below average. Here’s your markets wrap.

President Vladimir Putin ordered his army to boost its troop total by 137,000 to 1.15 million, the highest level in more than a decade, as Russia digs in for its war against Ukrainian forces backed by the US and its allies.

Deadly bacteria spread in a Similac factory—and caused the US formula shortage. Procedures got sloppy at the facility in Sturgis, Michigan. Cronobacter bacteria proliferated. And when the FDA finally acted, America found itself in a desperate scarcity. 

Empty shelves in the baby formula aisle of a store in California. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Almost one month after federal prosecutors accused Michael Malekzadeh of orchestrating a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme involving coveted sneakers, a court-appointed receiver is looking to unload a trove of nearly 60,000 status-y shoes squirreled away in his warehouse.

Greg Jensen, co-chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, expects that equities are facing a significant drop to align them with the real economy. “In aggregate, the asset markets will decline from 20% to 25%,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

• Bloomberg Opinion: Forgiving student loans is a costly mistake.
• Bloomberg Opinion: Don't try to guess Putin's next move. Just listen.
• Bloomberg Opinion: Life is good in the US, even by European standards.
• More Americans than ever can’t afford to pay their electric bill.
• US mortgage rates soar to 5.55%, renewing squeeze on homebuyers.
• Rich Americans cut credit-card spending for third month, BofA says.
• The City of London’s hottest hotel is struggling to bounce back.

When the first notable sushi stall opened for business in the 1820s in present-day Tokyo, the dish epitomized casual, inexpensive street food. Since then, sushi has evolved into a staple at strip malls and airports worldwide. The US has an estimated 16,000 sushi restaurants, a number that’s increased an average of 3.6% every year since 2017, according to marketing research firm IbisWorld. Each of the following sushi masters goes to great lengths to source top-of-the-line seafood, along with other coveted ingredients such as fresh wasabi root and sour sudachi citrus from markets in Japan. All are exquisite craftspersons, personally preparing dishes for a handful of customers from behind a counter. Here are the nine US bars for the best sushi experience you will find outside Japan.

Sushi. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg

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Bloomberg Technology Summit: The global economy is being redesigned amid surging inflation, the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s war on Ukraine and the current bear market. Join Bloomberg Live in London and virtually on Sept. 28 to hear Europe’s business leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs and investors explain how they’re adapting to this environment and discuss strategies to create business models that foster growth and innovation. Register here.