Business News at a Glance

New Pixel Phones and Other Gadgets Keep Google in the Hardware Hunt

For much of the past decade, Apple and Samsung have dominated sales of smartphones. So why would anyone bother trying to sell a new phone? That hasn’t dissuaded Google. The company Tuesday unveiled new versions of its Pixel smartphone, which is a high-end challenger to Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy phones. Similar to the latest iPhones and Samsung phones, the new Pixel 3 phones, which will become available Oct. 18, have glass bodies to support wireless power charging. Google also introduced a smart speaker with a built-in display and a laptop that doubles as a tablet, in response to products from Amazon and Microsoft.

Trump Claims Trade Victories but Businesses Struggle Under His Approach

President Donald Trump praised his new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico as a win for farmers, saying the pact will send cash pouring into the U.S. and enrich America’s agriculture and industrial workers. But many are not ready to cheer. NAFTA could soon be on its way to becoming the USMCA, but U.S. businesses still face a cloud of trade uncertainty. The biggest concern: Lingering tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum that won't end anytime soon. The metal tariffs, combined with retaliatory taxes that foreign governments have placed on U.S. products, are undercutting the concessions that Trump won in the deal.

Why Some Amazon Workers Are Fuming About Their Raise

Last week, Amazon announced it was raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour. But in Amazon warehouses across the country, many longtime workers are fuming that — based on the information they have received so far — they may end up making thousands of dollars less a year. Yes, Amazon is increasing wages, which will benefit most employees. But it will no longer give out new stock grants and monthly bonuses. Some workers believe that means their total compensation will shrink. Amazon maintained in a statement that the higher hourly wage “more than compensates for the phaseout” of the stock and incentive bonuses.

J.P. Morgan Fires Broker Accused of Excessive and Unauthorized Trading

J.P. Morgan Securities said this week it had fired a broker accused of making unauthorized trades in a customer’s account — and reaping fees that were 10 times the typical amount — three months after settling with the customer and several weeks after The New York Times reported on the dispute. The broker, Trevor Rahn, was discharged Sept. 17, according to a regulatory disclosure filing that cited “unacceptable practices” related to the “timing and size of orders entered and resulting transaction charges in a client account.” J.P. Morgan confirmed Monday that it no longer employed Rahn but declined to comment.

In London, Olympic Park’s Legacy Is Sustainability

The mandate was clear when London won the right to host the 2012 Summer Olympics: “No white elephants.” Meaning, unlike Beijing and Rio and many other countries where Olympic venues have fallen into disuse and disrepair quickly after the Games, London’s goal was to sustain its facilities. Six years after the Games, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has lived up to that directive. The industrial land has been replaced with landscaped greenery. The Olympic Stadium has been put to use as the home of West Ham United and next year will host baseball games between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

Mad Magazine’s ABCs of a School Shooting Give It a Boost of Relevance

Mad Magazine, the 66-year-old humor publication, has been in free fall for years, in circulation and cultural relevance. This month, however, people as varied as comedian Patton Oswalt and the co-director of "Coco" have heaped unlikely praise on the magazine. The reason? A four-page comic strip appearing in the Halloween issue depicting 26 children, one for each letter of the alphabet, who were or would soon become victims of a school shooting. “I can’t see a young kid looking at this without getting upset. That’s what makes it provocative,” said illustrator Drew Friedman, who has contributed to Mad for two decades.