ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

Slow, grinding negotiations on a huge COVID-19 relief bill are set to resume Aug. 3, but the path forward promises to be challenging and time is already growing short.

UPS Inc. is building two giant freezer farms capable of super-cooling millions of vials of a COVID-19 vaccine, preparing for the day when it will need to deliver the medicine at high speed across the globe.

House lawmakers recently pointed to the need for enhancing the manufacturing environment for products and equipment to avoid future disruptions along supply chains affected during the coronavirus pandemic.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Democrats rebuffed multiple proposals from the Trump administration to extend lapsing supplemental unemployment benefits and have continued to raise the ante in talks on a stimulus package to bolster a U.S. economy hobbled by the coronavirus pandemic.

Oil is set to eke out a monthly gain, yet futures lost steam on July 31 amid threats that the market will soon become oversupplied.

U.S. incomes fell more than expected in June as the effects of the government’s one-time stimulus checks dissipated, though an increase in unemployment-insurance payments pointed to the importance of expiring federal relief.

Amazon .com Inc. justified its big investments to keep operating through the COVID-19 pandemic with sales growth and a record profit that far exceeded analysts’ estimates, showing that staying open when so many businesses were forced to close was a rare opportunity.

Stocks pared losses as a rally in big technology companies tempered concern over a slow economic rebound. After the close of regular trading, Apple Inc., Amazon .com Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Facebook Inc. jumped as results crushed Wall Street estimates.

United Airlines Holdings Inc. warned that it’s considering furloughs for as many as one-third of its nearly 12,000 pilots, citing a resurgence in U.S. coronavirus cases that’s weakened sales.

Walmart Inc. has eliminated hundreds of corporate positions, according to people familiar with the matter, as retailers around the country slim down at the back-office level.