Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - America’s Evergrande exposure

If there was any doubt the debt-ceiling fight in Washington was impacting markets, just look at Wall Street. The S&P 500 posted its worst day since May, tumbling 2% as concerns over a government shutdown grew following the rejection by Senate Republicans of a debt-ceiling suspension. A big tech selloff clobbered the Nasdaq 100 (its worst day since March) and the Dow Jones followed suit. The world economy is facing inflation from surging energy prices and a slowing recovery from the ongoing pandemic. It’s putting investors on edge. Here’s your markets wrap.—Margaret Sutherlin

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

Fed officials have been quietly calling up major U.S. banks, asking about their potential exposure to China’s sinking Evergrande Group, which is $300 billion in the red. Hong Kong’s central bank also asked lenders there to report risks tied to the real estate developer, China’s largest issuer of high-yield, dollar-denominated bonds.

Jerome Powell’s expected renomination as Fed chair went a little sideways during Congressional hearings Tuesday. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts opposes a new term for the Republican, calling the Fed leader a “dangerous man.” It’s unclear how much Warren, a former bankruptcy law professor and architect of consumer protection laws, could leverage her position to force a new pick. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress that unless the debt ceiling is lifted, the U.S. will effectively be out of cash by Oct. 18. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren and Fed Chair Jerome Powell ahead of Tuesday's Senate hearing  Photographer: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

House progressive Democrats may defy Speaker Nancy Pelosi and vote against a bipartisan infrastructure bill Thursday, potentially dealing a blow to the measure’s chances as they insist Biden’s $3.5 trillion economic agenda move forward first. 

Fatigue, headache and soreness at the injection site: here’s what side-effects Americans can expect from a Covid-19 booster shot. Officials said 400,000 Americans got an additional booster over the weekend. New York said its vaccine mandates are working and Ireland became the best place to ride out the continuing coronavirus storm. Here’s the latest on the pandemic.

Have an Alexa? Amazon is betting you’re going to want a cute, home-helper robot to go with it. Here’s what the company also showed during its device day. 

Amazon’s $1,000 Astro home robot Source: Amazon.com Inc.

Retail investors filed a class-action lawsuit against Robinhood and Citadel for their roles in January’s meme-stock frenzy.

Just weeks after Donald Trump’s election in 2016, U.S. billionaire Tom Barrack received a royal welcome in the United Arab Emirates. Barrack encouraged his hosts to envision what four years with the New York real estate developer in the White House could hold for them. Federal prosecutors allege the meeting was part of a secret back-channel effort to illegally influence the foreign policy positions of the Trump campaign and incoming administration.

Tom Barrack, founder of Colony Capital, was charged with illegally lobbying the U.S. government on behalf of the United Arab Emirates and then lying about it to investigators.  Photographer: Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg

• Powell supports adding a Black woman to the Fed board. 
• Deutsche Bank’s 5,000 New York workers are going back to the office. 
• U.K. Prince Andrew acknowledges a U.S. sexual assault lawsuit.
• Citylab: Why the U.S. just can’t stop expanding interstate highways. 
• We now know the source behind the infamous Theranos exposé.
• Here’s where the world’s richest family is investing. 
• These are the best restaurants in California.

Just look to Brazil. Orange juice, sugar, coffee, corn—no country on Earth puts more breakfasts on kitchen tables than Brazil. So when the region’s crops were scorched and then frozen this year by a devastating one-two punch fueled by the climate crisis, global commodity markets shook.

Low water levels in Brazil’s Rio Grande during a drought. Photographer: Jonne Roriz/Bloomberg

Like getting the Evening Briefing? Subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and gain expert

Bloomberg Invest Global: Join us from Oct 5-7 as we focus on the key issues driving institutional investment strategies as top investors offer key insights on how smart money can safely navigate this risky environment. We’ll take the measure of the recovery and put this year’s popular strategies under the microscope to see what’s worked—and what hasn’t. Register here.