Economic Data Has Taken a Dark Turn. That Doesn’t Mean a Crash Is Near.

Ford is struggling to make money on battery-powered models while General Motors, which started more slowly, says it is getting close to that goal.

Mary C. Daly, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, said that the central bank shouldn’t act “out of fear.”

More faced hardship in the United States last year, the Census Bureau said, as inflation and the end of subsidies outweighed higher incomes.