The rising tide of coronavirus cases in the U.S. South and West, coming four months into the outbreak, emerged amid a patchwork of often confusing or conflicting rules across government that have proved inconsistent and often difficult to enforce, making the pandemic harder to halt. With the federal government handing off many decisions over reopening,…

Tesla Inc.’s strong performance during the pandemic has sent its stock soaring, dealing a blow to investors betting against the Silicon Valley auto maker. And Chief Executive Elon Musk is having a blast rubbing their noses in it. The 17-year-old electric-car company’s market value has risen about 22%—or almost $50 billion—to more than $250 billion…

Gold is climbing toward a record high, oil futures went from minus $40 a barrel to $40 in a month and a half, but the hottest commodity in the U.S. these days is wood. Prices for forest products like lumber and plywood have soared because of booming demand from home builders making up for lost…

School districts throughout the U.S. are getting a firsthand lesson on what a fall reopening could bring: sporadic closures as students and staffers test positive for Covid-19. At least half the states have districts that have shut down summer athletic training mainly due to students and coaches testing positive for the virus, some of whom…

School districts throughout the U.S. are getting a firsthand lesson on what a fall reopening could bring: sporadic closures as students and staffers test positive for Covid-19. At least half the states have districts that have shut down summer athletic training mainly due to students and coaches testing positive for the virus, some of whom…

WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court rejected President Trump’s efforts to block a New York prosecutor from enforcing a subpoena for his financial records, but issued a mixed decision in a related case involving subpoenas from Congress. In the congressional case, the high court said the lower courts were too quick to side with three House committees seeking…

Now Playing 7/9/2020 5:30AM      Will the coronavirus pandemic lead to long-term changes in how we shop for food? To better understand the challenges facing grocery stores, WSJ’s Alexander Hotz spoke with an industry insider, a store owner and a Walmart executive. Up Next Editor Picks Shelf 7:36 The Coronavirus May Forever Change Grocery Shopping 7/9/2020…

Prosecutors in Minnesota and Georgia are deploying a controversial criminal statute in their effort to punish the alleged murderers of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks and Ahmaud Arbery. The white police officers and others charged in the deaths of the three Black men are accused of felony murder, among other charges. The felony-murder rule is based…

The number of workers seeking new unemployment benefits has plateaued at a historically high level, showing that many Americans are still losing their jobs amid a broadly healing labor market. Weekly jobless benefit applications, historically a proxy for layoffs, have held between 1 million and 2 million since late May, and economists expect the figure…

Oil markets began the 2020s by nosediving below $0 a barrel for the first time. Investors and analysts are now trying to work out what the rest of the decade holds in store. Some think the bust will set in motion a boom, predicting that investment in oil-and-gas production will dry up and propel crude…

Langley Roby, a 38-year-old teacher, counts traveling to Walt Disney World in her mother’s womb as her first visit to the theme park in Orlando, Fla. Her mother was six months pregnant, but that didn’t stop her from riding Space Mountain, says Ms. Roby. Ms. Roby’s next visit to Disney World may end up being…

The Ivy League on Wednesday became the first Division I conference to postpone football and other sports until at least the start of 2021, people familiar with the matter said, setting the stage for bigger college sports bodies to either follow suit or try to press on toward an uncertain season. The Ivy League is…

The Justice Department is examining whether scandal-plagued German payment company Wirecard AG played a critical role in an alleged $100 million bank-fraud conspiracy connected to an online marijuana marketplace, according to people familiar with the investigation. Two businessmen have already been charged in the alleged fraud, accused of conspiring with third-party payment processors and others…

WASHINGTON—President Trump said Wednesday he disagreed with current government guidelines for safely reopening schools, calling them too tough, escalating his campaign to get children back in the classroom despite a surge in coronavirus cases this summer. Mr. Trump said he would meet with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has published recommendations for…

TikTok has been one of the world’s biggest distractions during the pandemic, thanks to its endless stream of bite-size videos featuring dance-offs, pranks and other goofs.Lately there has been a dash of something new at TikTok: politics. Experimenting with letting users post short political videos, the app is emerging as a platform for protesters and…

President Trump’s trade war with China is meeting at least one of his goals. The U.S. trade deficit with China in the past 12 months has dropped to its lowest since 2012.Unfortunately, that narrowing has come from the U.S. buying less from China, rather than China buying more from the U.S. Slack Chinese imports are…

WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court expanded religious schools’ exemption from civil-rights laws, the latest in a series of decisions elevating the role of religious exercise and sectarian institutions in American society. The court ruled that the First Amendment’s religion clauses immunize the schools from discrimination claims filed by teachers alleging they were fired because of age or…

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sued the Trump administration in federal court Wednesday over new rules barring international students from staying in the U.S. while taking classes entirely online this fall. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, seeks a temporary restraining order prohibiting the government from enforcing rules…

Brooks Brothers, which dressed the American business class in pinstripes for more than 200 years, survived two world wars and the shift to casual dressing. But it was no match for the coronavirus pandemic. The closely held company, which is owned by Italian businessman Claudio Del Vecchio, filed for bankruptcy protection in Wilmington, Del., on…

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., hit by slowing profits from prescription drugs, will attach doctors’ offices to hundreds of drugstores as the pharmacy chain seeks to remodel itself as a health-care provider. The largest U.S. drugstore chain by stores is pairing with primary-care provider VillageMD to open 500 to 700 clinics at Walgreens sites...

State and local governments from Georgia to California are cutting money for schools, universities and other services as the coronavirus-induced recession wreaks havoc on their finances. Widespread job losses and closed businesses have reduced revenue from sales and income taxes, forcing officials to make agonizing choices in budgets for the new fiscal year, which started…

Hong Kong is becoming an active center for trading stock in some of China’s largest technology groups, bolstering the case for more secondary listings of U.S.-listed Chinese companies. The city now accounts for nearly a fifth of the shares changing hands by value in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., after the e-commerce giant’s Hong Kong listing…

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. is nearing a restructuring deal that would help stave off a near-term bankruptcy filing while turning down a competing financing offer from senior lenders including Apollo Global Management Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. The proposed deal, which could be announced within days, would require bondholders to provide a…

WASHINGTON—President Trump is signaling that a focus on racial and cultural divides will be a key theme of his re-election campaign. But with the nation in the midst of a racial justice movement and polls showing a growing portion of the population supportive of change, some Republicans fear his strategy won’t work. Over the past…

Civil rights advocates came out of a meeting Tuesday with Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg saying they didn’t make progress on their demands over how the social-media giant polices the platform. The lack of headway, one week into a boycott by some of the company’s top advertisers over the issue, points toward the likelihood…

WASHINGTON—The U.S. is formally withdrawing from the World Health Organization, a White House official said. The notice was sent to the United Nations secretary-general, the official said. The withdrawal is effective July 6, 2021. U.S. President Donald Trumpsaid in May he would withdraw from the U.N. agency over what he described as its pro-China...

The Trump administration’s latest rules on international students are leaving colleges in a bind: hold in-person classes—a proposition many have deemed too dangerous—or risk losing enrollees from abroad. Under the policy, issued Monday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, international students won’t be allowed to enter or remain in the country if their universities opt…

After her son John was admitted to Amherst College last December, Michelle Fitzhenry thought dropping him off to start his freshman year would be a family event. She and her husband, Jim, had planned to fly with him to Massachusetts from Portland, Ore., in August, spend a couple of days shopping for dorm essentials and…

A federal judge cast doubt on Bayer AG’s proposal to neatly resolve all future lawsuits over the safety of its Roundup weedkiller, potentially snagging the German company’s attempts to move past the massive liability. Bayer said recently it would pay up to $10.9 billion to settle tens of thousands of current Roundup cases and create…

A federal judge cast doubt on Bayer AG’s proposal to neatly resolve all future lawsuits over the safety of its Roundup weedkiller, potentially snagging the German company’s attempts to move past the massive liability. Bayer said recently it would pay up to $10.9 billion to settle tens of thousands of current Roundup cases and create…

BERLIN—The global auto market is splitting three ways, complicating efforts by the industry’s main players to recover from their deepest crisis in years. While sales in post-lockdown China are showing signs of recovery, they are continuing to fall in the U.S., according to company and industry data released in recent weeks. The data also show…

The federal government awarded $2 billion to two drugmakers to support development and manufacturing of an experimental drug and a potential vaccine against Covid-19. Novavax Inc. said it would receive $1.6 billion from the federal government’ to fund clinical studies of its experimental coronavirus vaccine and establish large-scale manufacturing of doses. With the funding, Novavax…

New York’s financial-services regulator on Tuesday fined Deutsche Bank AG $150 million for failing to properly monitor its dealings with late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The fine, the latest in a series of run-ins with U.S. regulators for the German lender, was issued also in part for Deutsche Bank’s “correspondent” relationship with…

Now Playing 7/7/2020 5:30AM      Instacart has exploded in popularity during the pandemic. But the contract gig workers Instacart relies on say they aren’t sharing in the grocery-delivery company’s success and some local governments are working to address their concerns. Photo: Ben Margot/Associated Press Up Next Editor Picks Shelf 5:58 Instacart’s Boom in Business Leaves Its…

The former U.S. operations of a sanctioned Russian bank, a hedge fund partly owned by one of the biggest private-equity firms in the world and a real-estate developer behind two of Manhattan’s most expensive condominium towers were among the financial firms that benefited from a government program designed to help small businesses weather the coronavirus…

Protests over police brutality around the country are prompting local prosecutors to re-examine long-dormant cases and testing whether heightened national attention will lead to a different legal result. In the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, protesters have called for a renewed look at cases where people died at the hands of…

Several large health-care organizations are partnering on an advertising campaign to encourage people to return to their medical providers as the pandemic continues, a sign of how difficult it has been to allay fears of catching the coronavirus during visits to a doctor or pharmacy. Patients worried about contracting Covid-19 in medical facilities have for…