Kevin McCarthy gets fired

The third-most powerful elected politician in the US government just lost his job. While many on Capitol Hill applauded Kevin McCarthy’s decision to forge a compromise and avoid a government shutdown, he just paid a high personal price. The California Republican lost a pivotal vote and was removed from the role of House Speaker in an unprecedented demonstration of the power his far-right opponents wield over the GOP. They had warned McCarthy to abide by their demands over the budget face-off or suffer the consequences—laid out in the terms of the deal that made him Speaker in the first place. To survive the fallout, McCarthy would have had to ink a last-minute alliance with skeptical Democrats, but it was not to be. In the end, he was unable to negotiate with either side to keep his gavel. Now, with no clear successor and half of the legislative branch of the US government in disarray, the chances of avoiding a shutdown when the current deal ends are shrinking. —David E. Rovella

A key demand among far-right Republicans has been to kill off US funding of Ukraine’s effort to beat back the Russian invasion. One clear beneficiary of the political maelstrom in Washington appears to be Vladimir Putin, whose effort to crush his neighbor now depends in part on western nations, and in particular the US, depriving Ukraine of the ability to defend itself.

Several Taiwanese technology companies are helping Huawei Technologies build infrastructure for an under-the-radar network of chip plants across southern China, an unusual collaboration that risks inflaming sentiment on a democratic island grappling with Beijing’s growing belligerence. At a time when China threatens Taiwan regularly with military action for even contemplating independence, members of the island’s most important industry may be helping US-sanctioned Huawei develop semiconductors to effectively break an American blockade.

Canada’s foreign minister said the government is still in discussions with India about Canada’s diplomatic presence in the country as a dispute rages over the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in a Vancouver suburb. Melanie Joly said Tuesday that Canada is in “constant cooperation and dialogue with India” after reports that Canada has been instructed to reduce the number of diplomats by two-thirds—a move that would send dozens of staff home and significantly reduce the nation’s contingent in New Delhi.

US job openings unexpectedly increased in August, fueled by a surge in white-collar postings and highlighting the durability of American labor demand. The number of available positions increased to 9.61 million from a revised 8.92 million in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday. The level of openings topped all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The pickup in openings reflected a more than half-million increase at professional and business services as well as more postings in finance and insurance, education and non-durable goods manufacturing.

All that good news for job seekers was seen as bad news on Wall Street. The S&P 500 Index plunged to the lowest level since June as the Dow Jones Industrial Average wiped out its gains for the year. The employment news doesn’t bode well for those focused on when the US Federal Reserve will start lowering interest rates. “Investors are worried that if rates stay higher for longer and we slow down the economy far enough to battle inflation, we’ll slide into a full-blown recession,” said Kim Forrest, founder and chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners. “There is a lot of fear about what could go wrong.” Here’s your markets wrap.

Intel plans to turn its programmable chip division into a standalone business and either sell shares to the public or seek an investor for it, part of Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger’s efforts to wring more value from the semiconductor company. Programmable chips can have their function changed or updated even after they’ve been installed in electronic devices.

Singapore is investigating the role that some single family offices played in one of the city’s largest money laundering cases and weighing further rules on the sector. Authorities found that one or more of the accused in the case involving more than S$2.8 billion ($2 billion) of assets may have been linked to single family offices that were awarded tax incentives, Minister of State Alvin Tan said in parliament on Tuesday.

Tourists in Japan will pay more for rail passes after the JR train network raised prices for the first time in four decades, by an average of 70%. From the start of this month, a rail pass offering 14 days of unlimited travel across Japan costs ¥80,000 ($534), up from ¥47,250. The JR group of six train operators contends that previous fares were set when there were fewer bullet-train destinations and that higher prices are justified with services extending into the northern regions.

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