Investments and Business

Federal government shutdowns have become so common in recent years that forecasters have a good read on how another one would affect the American economy. The answer is fairly simple: The longer a shutdown lasts, the more damage it is likely to inflict.A brief shutdown would be unlikely to slow the economy significantly or push it into recession, economists on Wall Street and inside the Biden administration have concluded. That assessment is based in part on the evidence from prior episodes when Congress stopped funding many government operations.But a prolonged shutdown could hurt growth and potentially President Biden’s re-election prospects.…

A federal agency on Thursday filed a lawsuit that accuses Tesla of discrimination against Black employees who it said were bombarded with racial epithets, given worse work assignments than white workers and fired when they complained.Tesla managers were aware of the discrimination and verbal abuse, the lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission argues, but failed to do enough to stop it. The agency said it had sued after trying unsuccessfully to work out a plan with Tesla to address the discrimination.The lawsuit is the latest to accuse Tesla of pervasive racism at its factory in Fremont, Calif., near…

If the area around Jackson, Wyo., boasts two things, they’re natural resources and very rich locals. Nathan Wendt is trying to use the Biden administration’s clean energy incentives to bring the two together.Mr. Wendt, the president of the Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs, has spent years working on issues related to climate change and local economic development. And as President Biden pushed one climate-related policy after another through Congress — first the infrastructure law, and then the Inflation Reduction Act — and a dizzying array of tax credits, loans and grants became available, he sensed an opportunity.“For Jackson Hole…

Hollywood is moving one step closer to getting back to work.SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents tens of thousands of movie and television actors who have been on strike since July, will resume negotiations with the major entertainment studios on Monday. Several studio executives will attend.The joint announcement on Wednesday was made one day after the Writers Guild of America’s leadership voted to end its 148-day strike against the studios. The tentative contract now goes to the union’s membership for ratification, and writers began returning to work on Wednesday.The flurry of movement is a welcome reprieve for an industry that has…

The United Automobile Workers union said on Wednesday that it planned to expand its strike against the big three Michigan automakers on Friday if negotiators failed to make substantial progress on new contracts.The union ordered workers to walk off the job nearly two weeks ago at three vehicle assembly plants — each owned by one of the companies, General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis, the parent of Chrysler and Jeep. Last Friday the union broadened the strike to include spare parts-distribution centers owned by G.M. and Stellantis, saying it had made progress in its talks with Ford.The U.A.W. president, Shawn…

The White House has begun advising federal agencies to prepare for a government shutdown as Republican lawmakers have shown no signs of progress in negotiations to keep the government funded beyond this week.Even as Senate Republicans and Democrats produced a stopgap bill on Tuesday to fund the government through Nov. 17, its prospects in the Republican-led House appeared dim with only days remaining before the midnight deadline on Saturday.The United States has experienced 21 gaps in government funding since 1976, leading to varying degrees of disruption. Under a worst-case scenario, the White House is wary of a repeat of 2018,…

Hospitality workers in Las Vegas have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against major resorts along the Strip, a critical step toward a walkout as the economically challenged city prepares for major sporting events in the months ahead.The authorization vote on Tuesday by members of Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, which collectively represent 60,000 workers across Nevada, was approved by 95 percent of those taking part, according to union officials.Although a vote is a forceful step, it does not guarantee that workers will strike before hashing out a new contract deal with the major resorts.…

The Biden administration plans to bring back open internet rules that were enacted during the Obama administration and then repealed by the Trump administration.In a speech on Tuesday, Jessica Rosenworcel, chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, declared that the repeal in 2017 put the F.C.C. “on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of the law, and the wrong side of the public.”The earlier open internet rules, known as net neutrality, prohibited broadband internet suppliers — telecommunications and cable companies — from blocking or slowing online services. It also banned the broadband companies from charging some content providers higher…

Federal Reserve officials are expected to leave interest rates unchanged at their meeting on Wednesday, buying themselves more time to assess whether borrowing costs are high enough to weigh down the economy and wrestle inflation under control.But investors are likely to focus less on what policymakers do on Wednesday — and more on what they say about the future. Wall Street will closely watch whether Fed policymakers still expect to make another interest rate increase before the end of the year or whether they are edging closer to the next phase in their fight against rapid inflation.Central bankers have already…