Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Fed signals wind down

The Federal Reserve is ready to start tapering monthly bond purchases this year. Chair Jerome Powell, along with plenty of other regional bank presidents, said the U.S. economy had made enough “substantial progress” to warrant the shift in policy, though the central bank would be assessing data from the raging delta variant of the coronavirus, too. Powell also stressed the Fed won’t be in a hurry to begin raising interest rates after the wind-down. Here’s your markets wrap.—Margaret Sutherlin

Bloomberg is tracking the progress of coronavirus vaccines while mapping the pandemic worldwide.

There’s a new race on Wall Street: one for tickers and fund names. Strong names have been shown to boost trading in U.S. stocks, and the rise of the retail trader is making them key to the success of new exchange-traded funds.

U.S. President Joe Biden is considering accelerating Covid-19 booster shots to five months after a second dose. In Florida, one of the hotspots for new cases in the U.S., Governor Ron DeSantis’s mask mandate ban was blocked by the state’s top court. The ruling clears the way for schools to require masks without threat of retaliation by the state. U.K. health officials are warning of another infection surge as kids return to the classroom. Here’s the latest on the pandemic. 

Students inside a classroom at a private school in North Miami Beach, Florida. Some schools around Florida had defied the state government’s mask ban. Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg

Tropical Storm Ida is intensifying into a major hurricane and is headed toward New Orleans. This just as Louisiana and surrounding states see their health systems buckle under rising Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations.

Despite repeated warnings of more potential attacks, large crowds of Afghans milled around Kabul’s international airport hoping to be evacuated before the U.S. exits next week. Though Biden pledged to get American allies out, the window for civilian evacuations has all but closed. 

Hospital staff helps bring in a wounded patient to a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan. A suicide bomber killed more than 100 people Thursday, including U.S. soldiers.  Photographer: Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times

Electric truck maker Rivian has filed for an initial public offering and is seeking a roughly $80 billion valuation. The automaker is backed by Amazon and widely seen as a Tesla challenger. 

The number of FedEx Ground packages jumped 23% last year. While Americans sat around buying up everything on their phones, the shopping habit also fueled a boom in the value of FedEx delivery routes, which independent contractors have been snapping up—and making bank. 

A FedEx truck drives through the Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago. Photographer: Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg

Facebook, Twitter and Google are among 15 companies being asked by a U.S. House special committee to turn over records of postings, videos and other material promoting efforts to nullify the 2020 U.S. election, or events leading up to the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. 

• There’s another crisis facing Afghanistan: food shortages. 
• China’s regulatory push just stepped into overdrive. Here’s why. 
• Peloton is under investigation by several agencies over its treadmills. 
• Cuba is laying the groundwork for legalizing cryptocurrency. 
• Cristiano Ronaldo is returning to the team that made him a superstar.
• How trading cards went from hobby to multibillion-dollar asset class. 
• These are fall’s most anticipated restaurant openings in New York.

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The world’s rich are sailing the world this time of year—enjoying a holiday at sea and escaping the crowds. This is where they’re going.

A boat at the Super Yacht Miami Show in Miami, Florida, in 2020. Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg

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Bloomberg New Economy Conversations—China’s Tech Crackdown: Join New Economy Forum Editorial Director Andrew Browne on Sept. 8 at 10 a.m. as he analyzes the sweeping regulatory crackdown underway in China. The private sector helped power China’s economic rise, but President Xi Jinping seems determined to rein in what he sees as its excesses. Is this transitory or a game-changing shift? Joining Andy are Keyu Jin, Associate Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics & Political Science, and Kevin Rudd, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Asia Society. Register here.