A fresh selloff in megacap technology shares sent stocks to their fourth loss in five days as investors grow increasingly concerned that the recent five-month rally went too far. Treasuries rose with the dollar as the S&P 500 dropped as much as 2.1%. Volatility increased in the Nasdaq 100 and energy companies plunged as crude dropped back toward $37 a barrel. In the U.S., data showed growing cracks in labor-market recovery while a second pandemic bailout bill seems more unlikely. —David E. Rovella

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Here are today’s top stories

Applications for U.S. state unemployment benefits held steady last week, a sign extensive job losses are persisting as the nation struggles to control the coronavirus. The total number of Americans claiming ongoing unemployment assistance in those programs rose 93,000, to 13.4 million in the week ended Aug. 29.

Odds of a second bailout for the U.S. economy dropped Thursday following a partisan split over a slimmed-down package proposed by Republicans. Estimated at roughly $500 billion to $700 billion, the bill was a fraction of the $2.2 trillion backed by Democrats.

Citigroup picked Jane Fraser as its next chief executive officer, placing the first woman atop a major Wall Street bank. Over at JPMorgan, senior sales and trading employees are being told to return to their offices by Sept. 21, the strongest move yet by a U.S. bank to restaff its workplaces.

Jane Fraser

Photographer: Bloomberg

More employees have died of the coronavirus at this company than at any in the world, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. Western Europe surpassed the U.S. in new daily Covid-19 infections, re-emerging as a global hotspot, and New York City public transportation riders will face a $50 fine for not wearing a mask. Here is the latest on the pandemic.

Fallout continued from Wednesday’s explosion over President Donald Trump’s taped admission that he knew last spring how bad Covid-19 would become while publicly criticizing masks and lockdowns. Lost in the furor, however, was former Vice President Joe Biden’s rollout of his economic plan, part of which calls for a 10% tax penalty on U.S. companies that move operations overseas and a 10% tax credit for companies that create jobs in America.

Groups from Russia, China and Iran have stepped up cyber-attacks in an effort to disrupt the U.S. presidential election in November, a Microsoft investigation found.

Former Theranos Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Holmes is exploring a “mental disease” defense for her criminal fraud trial.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

• Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and the war for Japan bragging rights.
• Century 21, felled by the Covid-19 recession, files for bankruptcy.
• The CFTC retreats from rule allowing huge secret swaps trades.
• Bloomberg Photos: A preview of the apocalypse as California burns.
• La Nina is here, threatening even bigger storms and wildfires.
• Now is the time to move to Manhattan: Rental stock is soaring.
• CityLab: History and gentrification clash in a gilded age resort.

What you’ll want to read in Bloomberg Green

How Fertilizer Is Making Climate Change Worse

The explosion that rocked Beirut last month, killing at least 190, was a grim echo of prior accidents caused by the explosive fertilizer ammonium nitrate. Yet ammonium nitrate’s deadly potential isn’t its most dire threat to human life. As the most widely-used synthetic fertilizer, it and its chemical cousins ammonium sulfate, sodium nitrate, and potassium nitrate are significant contributors to climate change.

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