The stock market is sliding.

After a summer rally propelled the major stock indexes to near-record highs, the markets have slid in recent weeks, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 suffering their fourth straight week of losses this week. Rising coronavirus infections in Europe and elevated case levels in the U.S., combined with the likelihood Congress won’t manage to pass new stimulus by November's election, has crimped investor confidence and put the markets in a "holding pattern," said David Coombs, head of multiasset investments at Rathbone Brothers. The compounding risks of Covid-19, the potential for political instability in the U.S., and signs of lagging economic growth are all making it harder for U.S. stocks to see gains, analysts said. Geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China aren’t helping either. This week, WSJ broke news that Beijing leaders are divided over when (or whether) to release a nearly completed blacklist of "unreliable entities" that could harm Chinese interests. Investors are worried more aggressive sanctions could be deployed against U.S. companies.

President Trump is expected to nominate Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

Judge Barrett, 48 years old, is known as a solidly conservative jurist with strong support throughout the Republican Party. A member of the Chicago-based Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and among the top contenders the Trump administration considered for the seat that eventually went to now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Judge Barrett, if confirmed, would be the only member of the court without an Ivy League degree. She's considered a favorite of social conservatives in part because of her strong Catholic faith, with many expecting she could deliver a deciding vote in antiabortion activists’ decadeslong fight to overturn Roe v. Wade. If nominated and eventually confirmed—which Republican senators are hoping to achieve under a tight timetable by Election Day—she would be seated in time for one of the court's biggest pending cases, which involves the future of the Affordable Care Act. The White House didn't comment on reports of Judge Barrett's expected nomination, and people close to the administration cautioned that the president’s decision wouldn’t be final until he announces it on Saturday at 5 p.m.

The presidential debates are almost here.

President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are meeting for the first of three scheduled debates on Tuesday night, an event that along with Trump's expected Supreme Court nomination has the potential to reshape the already contentious campaign, in which the president has so far consistently lagged his Democratic challenger in most polls. Tuesday's debate will start live from Cleveland at 9:00 p.m. ET and will last for 90 minutes without commercial interruptions. Fox News anchor Chris Wallace will be moderating, with topics set to include both candidates’ records in government, Covid-19, the economy, race and violence in U.S. cities and election integrity. The pandemic and the recession are two topics looming particularly large over the election, especially among older voters in swing states like Florida. Some voters age 65 and older, a key Trump constituency, are wavering in their support for the president and say the debates will help them crystallize their decision.

You can stream Tuesday's debate live on WSJ.com at 9 p.m., and moments before the debate WSJ's Jerry Seib and Shelby Holiday will host a short conversation about what to watch for and what's at stake throughout the evening.

Election 2020: How Trump and Biden compare on the key issues.

Who is Joshua Wong?

A leading pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong, Joshua Wong was arrested this week in the latest blow to civil liberties advocates in the city, where China has moved to tighten its control over the past year. Wong, 23, was an early and prominent leader in the 2014 Umbrella Movement, a series of mass demonstrations named after the instrument activists used to protect themselves from police tear gas. While he has remained a prominent pro-democracy activist, Wong isn't considered a leader of the most recent round of protests dating back to last June. He was arrested Thursday for allegedly violating a law last October that was imposed to crack down on protests following the first police shooting to take place during the unrest. His arrest was the latest in a litany of charges he is facing. Wong spent two months in jail last year and was also arrested in August 2019 for his role in allegedly organizing a public protest. Wong, who is mandated to report to a police station twice a week as part of his bail conditions, was arrested on a routine visit, before being released hours later. Despite the charges, Wong remains defiant and committed to rule of law in Hong Kong. "They can prosecute us, they can arrest us, they can lock us up in prison, but they can’t censor our commitment," he said at a news conference following his release.

€300,000 — The estimated cost, equivalent to about $349,000, of a four-month pilot program sponsored by Finland's government that stations sniffer dogs in Helsinki's international airport to identify Covid-19 in humans by smell. In preliminary tests, authorities have said the dogs have been able to detect cases with near 100% accuracy and that the effort is cheaper than traditional lab testing.

380 — The number of suspected detention facilities that the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said the Chinese government has built in the Xinjiang region since 2017. Beijing is using a system of internment camps to detain Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in China as part of its yearslong forced cultural-assimiliation campaign. The new construction ASPI identified has continued despite China’s assurances that it was winding down use of the facilities. ASPI also found that about 8,500 mosques in the region have been demolished since 2017.

56% — The percentage of Catholics in the U.S. who believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared with 61% of all adults in the U.S., according to the Pew Research Center. American Catholics’ support for abortion rights has risen from 45% in 2009.

$199.99 — The cost of Amazon's new car camera and alarm, unveiled at the company’s annual product event this week. The device begins recording if a user says "Alexa, I'm being pulled over."

50% — The increase in wholesale tea prices since March. Tea is the world's most popular beverage other than water, and demand for it is putting pressure on the global tea supply, which is already facing strains from labor shortages, port closures and other logistical issues as well as bad weather and production challenges linked to climate change.

$650 million — The estimated size of a payout Facebook could owe under a proposed settlement to some users in Illinois for allegedly misusing their data as part of a facial-recognition tool for the platform's photo tagging suggestions feature. Each eligible member of the class-action lawsuit could receive between $200 and $400, according to estimates by the Data Dividend Project.

$200 — The value of each prescription-drug discount card that the Trump administration is planning to send to 33 million seniors in coming weeks. The benefit—set to be administered through a program that lets officials waive standards to test new initiatives—is expected to cost $6 billion and comes as the president seeks to shore up flagging support among older voters in the last weeks of his re-election campaign. Some critics have questioned the plan’s legality.

What's next for the combustion engine?

California's plan to ban sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035 has made one thing abundantly clear: The auto industry's pivot toward electric vehicles is accelerating. The order from Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, makes California the most ambitious U.S. state in terms of electric-vehicle adoption goals and puts it on a similar pathway as Europe and China, which also have aggressive targets for reducing carbon emissions. China has considered aiming for 60% of all new vehicle sales to be electric by 2035. The European Union is moving to soon tighten its emissions targets for the next decade, with rules that would require fully electric vehicles to account for more than 60% of new-car sales by 2030—up from about 4% now. While Newsom's order will likely face court challenges, car industry analysts believe the shift toward electric is now inevitable. Even though electric cars accounted for only 2.8% of all sales globally last year, Morgan Stanley predicts such vehicles to make up around half of all new car sales world-wide by 2035 and 80% by 2050. "We have to realistically believe that around 2035 there will be serious discussion about banning the internal combustion engine," Hakan Samuelsson, chief executive of Volvo Cars told the Journal.

• Go listen to: "Judas," a new track featuring a bunch of my favorite artists: Ari Lennox, Chance the Rapper, Buddy, JID and Masego.
• Go watch: "The Wire." I know I'm like 20 years late, but better late than never, right? Pro tip: HBO MAX is $4 cheaper per month for the first year if you subscribe to it through Hulu instead of as a stand-alone subscription.
• Go cook: This chicken soup recipe that WSJ's Life & Arts section calls "uniquely uplifting." 
• What I've had on repeat: This 2013 Boiler Room set from Haitian-Canadian producer Kaytranada. Shout out to the person who was double parked in front of my window blasting it a few days ago for reminding me it existed.

As mourners gathered in Washington, D.C., this week to celebrate the trailblazing life of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, WSJ asked them what the late justice meant to their lives.

Check out the full photo essay.

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