The Fed goes big

The Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate by a half percentage point on Wednesday, an aggressive start to a policy shift aimed at bolstering the US labor market. Projections released following their two-day meeting showed a narrow majority, 10 of 19 officials, favored reducing rates by at least an additional half-point over the two remaining 2024 meetings. The Federal Open Market Committee voted 11 to 1 to cut the federal funds rate to a range of 4.75% to 5%, after holding it for more than a year at its highest level in two decades. It was the Fed’s first rate cut in more than four years. “This decision reflects our growing confidence that with an appropriate recalibration of our policy stance, strength in the labor market can be maintained in a context of moderate growth and inflation moving sustainably down to 2%,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a press conference following the announcement. Stock traders decided to “sell the news” after the cut. — Natasha Solo-Lyons

Amazon is raising the pay of its hourly warehouse workers by at least $1.50 an hour and adding Prime memberships to their benefits. The raises will take effect this month for the hundreds of thousands of employees working for Amazon’s sprawling US logistics operation, boosting the average base wage to more than $22 an hour, the company said Wednesday. The pay bump comes as inflation, though well below its post-pandemic highs, continues to eat away at the value of workers’ paychecks.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ushered in what he called a “new phase” in the war with regional Islamist groups and said troops would be diverted to the Lebanese border, an indication that long-held fears of a wider conflict may soon be realized. More military resources will be deployed to the north of the country, where Israel has been exchanging rocket fire with Hezbollah militants for almost a year, Gallant told forces on Wednesday. His comments came after waves of exploding telecommunications devices in Lebanon killed 26 people over two days and wounded more than 3,000, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

US housing starts bounced back in August after tumbling a month earlier, illustrating uneven residential construction as builders weigh inventory levels against brighter demand prospects tied to falling borrowing costs. Meanwhile, builder completions of US multifamily housing units soared to a five-decade high in August, a development that will probably help ease pressure on rents.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has approved rules that will allow thousands of stocks and ETFs traded on exchanges to be quoted in half-penny increments. The agency’s move Wednesday, which came with a unanimous vote from the five commissioners, might help trading venues such as the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, among others, better compete with wholesalers that can quote in finer increments outside of an exchange.

Lionel Messi is fueling a boom in US soccer that risks unraveling once he’s gone. Just over a year after Messi stunned the sports world by leaving Paris Saint-Germain for Inter Miami, the fortunes of the once-struggling team and its upstart league have been transformed. MLS team values have surged $3.2 billion since the Argentine superstar arrived in Miami. Now, the US soccer league is contemplating what happens after he retires.

The US sued the owner and the operator of a Singapore-flagged ship that rammed into a Baltimore bridge in March, the most aggressive action to date in response to a disaster that killed six workers and threw the region’s transportation network into chaos. The Justice Department is seeking more than $100 million to cover costs the US incurred after the cargo ship Dali destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge and brought operations at the Port of Baltimore to a standstill.

Boeing is requiring many salaried workers to take unpaid leave to preserve cash as the planemaker digs in for contentious contract talks with its largest union. The austerity measure affects tens of thousands of US-based employees, managers and executives, according to the company. They will work a rolling schedule of three weeks on the job and one week without work or pay, Kelly Ortberg, Boeing’s chief executive officer, announced Wednesday in a companywide message seen by Bloomberg. Ortberg and other senior executives will also take a pay cut while factory workers in Seattle and Oregon remain on strike, he said.

The 112-year-old Natirar mansion, a Tudor‑style brick manor house that was once the king of Morocco’s residence, would look right at home in Somerset, England, or the Scottish Highlands. Down its long driveway, surrounded by towering old maple trees and lush parklands, its 1912 carriage house is covered with ivy. Behind it, a garden stretches across 10 acres, with neat rows of cucumber melon and corn to supply the kitchens bustling with cooks. Yet all this is some 3,500 miles away from the UK—and less than an hour’s drive from Manhattan—in Somerset County, New Jersey. In October, Natirar will raise its flag as a Pendry resort with 46 guest rooms, 21 suites and a sprawling full-service spa that will pamper you like royalty—all for about $600 a night.

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