Economy

Rarely do so many parts of a president’s political identity collide in one place.Friday’s walkout by the United Auto Workers is a real-time test of President Biden’s economic agenda: his call for higher wages for the middle class; his unapologetic pro-union stand; his climate-driven push to reimagine an electric vehicle future for car companies — centered in Michigan, a state that he must win in 2024 to remain in the Oval Office.The targeted strike by some members of the 150,000-member union is designed to disrupt one of America’s oldest industries at a time that Mr. Biden is sharpening the contrast…

The United Automobile Workers union said late Thursday that its members were set to walk off the production lines in three plants in three states at midnight in what would be the first strike simultaneously affecting all three Detroit automakers.The union and the companies — General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis, the parent of Chrysler — remained deadlocked in negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement with the current contract set to expire at 11:59 p.m.At the outset, the strike would idle one plant owned at each automaker, and could force the automakers to halt production at other locations, shaking…

Call it Wall Street’s Groundhog Day.When shares of Arm, the British chip designer, began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Thursday in the year’s biggest initial public offering, investors, tech executives, bankers and start-up founders were watching closely for how it performed.If Arm’s stock fell, they knew the market for I.P.O.s was likely to stay frozen for longer. But a warm welcome for the shares would probably mean many more companies going public in the coming months, ending the cold streak.They quickly got their answer: It was an early spring. Arm’s shares opened trading at $56.10, up 10 percent…

Barely 24 hours before the contract deadline, the United Auto Workers leader said Wednesday that his members were prepared for a strike against the three Detroit automakers — first at a limited number of factories, with the walkout expanding if talks remain bogged down.The U.A.W. president, Shawn Fain, also ruled out any extension of the existing four-year contracts with General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis after they expire on Thursday night. “September 14 is a deadline, not a reference point,” he declared in an address to union members on Facebook Live.He said the initial strike locations would be “limited and…

Citigroup unveiled a wide-ranging management shake-up on Wednesday and its chief executive, Jane Fraser, admitted in unusually frank terms that the bank was headed in the wrong direction and said that for the foreseeable future her employees “might not enjoy it so much.”The global banking colossus said it would cut some divisions and move others to report directly to Ms. Fraser. Long known for its international arms, it will wind down some of its operations abroad and all but eliminate the overlapping, co-heads of various business lines. The firm’s three regional chiefs, who previously had wide authority to make decisions…