Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Labor Day for the Fed

US employers added a healthy number of jobs in August as a steady stream of people returning to the workforce suggests some easing in a tight labor market. The employment gain still points to a big appetite for labor amid high inflation and rising interest rates, and repeated pay raises continue to fuel consumer spending. But the jump in workforce participation could lead to the further cooling of wage growth, which would in turn help slow inflation. That’s welcome news for the Fed as it debates its next rate decision, and led traders to pare bets for a third-straight 75-basis-point hike. Here’s your markets wrap. —David E. Rovella

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

Amazon, seemingly determined to reduce the size of its sprawling delivery operation amid slowing sales growth, has abandoned dozens of existing and planned facilities around the US. 

With a new Tory prime minister about to take office, markets are sending a message of trepidation at what happens next to the UK. The pound has tumbled to $1.15, trading near its lowest since 1985; the FTSE 100 Index shed more than 3% this week; borrowing costs for blue-chip British companies now exceed 5%; and homeowners are grappling with sharply higher refinancing rates. 

Meanwhile, Britain has been bested by India, a former colony, and is now the world’s sixth largest economy. The decline delivers yet another blow to a nation grappling with a wide array of crises.

President Joe Biden in a primetime speech last night accused Donald Trump and Republicans who back him of endangering US democracy, and urged Americans to reject any candidate backed by his predecessor. “Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundation of our republic,” Biden said from Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park, the site of the signing of the US Constitution. Republicans attacked the speech, which follows Biden’s harder turn of late in condemning the GOP’s efforts to undercut voting access and block abortion rights. But calling Trump or parts of his party “semi-fascist,” Jonathan Bernstein writes in Bloomberg Opinion, is a mistake.

Ukraine says its air force has been striking Russian troops using jets, helicopters and drones, mostly in the country’s south where the nation is mounting a counteroffensive. According to UK intelligence, Ukrainian forces have pushed the front line back some distance in places, exploiting relatively thinly held Russian defenses. 

Covid booster shots that target the most common new variants of the virus should become available in the US within days, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on the rollout of updated vaccines. 

Hundreds of ethnic Tigrayans from Ethiopia who served in a United Nations peacekeeping force have joined a battle for a strategic town in the northwest of the country, the latest twist in an internal conflict that erupted in late 2020.

Ethiopian former peacekeepers disembark from a United Nations' aircraft as they arrive in Sudan’s Kassala airport on May 15 after seeking asylum.  Photographer: Hussein Ery/AFP

• One of the key components of American society is starting to buckle.
• Empty folders raise stakes in Trump classified file investigation.
• Russia moves to shut off Europe from natural gas again.
• Monkeypox vaccine study raises questions about protection.
• Apple’s car is beloved by the masses—even though it doesn’t exist yet.
• Self-driving tech company floats possible sale to Apple or Microsoft.
• OnlyFans owner gets more than $500 million in dividends in two years.

Luxury goods—especially designer handbags—are becoming a hotly sought-after investment commodity. One July study said 40% of US consumers had bought or were planning to buy one, helping bolster the category from a global market of $72 billion this year to a predicted $100 billion in 2026.

The Bloomberg Evening Briefing will return on Tuesday, Sept. 6.

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IBM Automate—Singapore: From relocations to resignations to major changes in work processes, the future of work continues to change rapidly. Join Bloomberg Live on Sept. 13 virtually or in-person in Singapore for the IBM Roadshow on Intelligent Automation: Creating the Workforce of the Future. We’ll talk with business and IT executives to explore how automation helps companies meet these challenges. Register here.