Mr. Biden and Democratic leaders said that advancing the deal on transportation, water and broadband infrastructure will hinge on the passage of more elements of Mr. Biden's $4 trillion economic agenda. The two-track process sets up weeks of delicate negotiations to gather support for both the bipartisan plan and a separate Democratic proposal, a challenging task in the 50-50 Senate and the narrowly Democratic-controlled House.

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Consumers Are Back Out Spending, Driving the Recovery

Consumers likely increased spending last month on services that they shunned earlier in the Covid-19 pandemic, helping fuel the broader economic recovery.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect Friday's Commerce Department report to show consumer spending rose 0.4% in May. They expect incomes fell 2.7% last month from April, as the boost faded from government stimulus checks sent out earlier in the year.

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Fed Gives Big Banks Clean Bill of Health in Latest Stress Test

WASHINGTON-The Federal Reserve gave large U.S. banks a clean bill of health as they emerge from the coronavirus crisis, paving the way for the lenders to boost their payouts to investors after June 30.

In a vote of confidence for the banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co., the Fed on Thursday said it would end temporary limits on dividend payments and share buybacks after all 23 firms performed well in annual stress tests.

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German Consumer Confidence Set to Increase Strongly in July

German consumer sentiment is expected to rise in July as the Covid-19 pandemic retreats and the economy reopens, according to data from the market-research group GfK released Friday.

GfK's forward-looking consumer sentiment index is set to increase to minus 0.3 points in July from minus 6.9 points in June, the highest level since August 2020. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected consumer sentiment to rise to minus four points.

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Fed's Williams Says More Progress Needed Before Rate-Hike Shift

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams reiterated Thursday he doesn't see a case to raise rates any time soon given that the job market remains far short of the strength the central bank wants to see.

When it comes to lifting rates, "it is not the time now because the economy still is far from maximum employment," Mr. Williams said in a virtual appearance. As for when the Fed may raise rates, "the answer, which you might not like, is that it depends" on how the economy performs, he said.

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Congress Ends Trump-Era Rule Enabling Payday Lenders to Avoid Interest Rate Caps

Congress voted Thursday to undo a Trump administration rule that enabled high-interest consumer lenders to attach themselves to banks and circumvent state-level interest rate caps.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's ruling in late October said that any bank or federal savings association that signs loan documents is to be considered the "true lender," even if the loan is serviced by or sold to a high-interest entity such as a payday lender. Prior to that rule, courts had sometimes found those arrangements to be illegal. Under then-President Donald Trump, the OCC had cited differing court approaches as a reason it wrote the rule.

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Numbers Ain't What They Used to Be in Turbulent U.S. Economy

There is a rule of thumb in data watching that, if you want to understand which way things are trending, you need to watch the revisions. What is happening with capital spending might be a case in point.

The Commerce Department on Thursday reported that U.S. manufacturers' new orders for durable goods rose 2.3% in May from April, lower than the 2.6% gain economists expected. Much of that increase was due to a jump in aircraft orders, which are often lumpy.

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Environmental Investing Frenzy Stretches Meaning of 'Green'

The first time Gerard Barron tried to mine the sea floor, the company he backed lost a half-billion dollars of investor money, got crosswise with a South Pacific government, destroyed sensitive seabed habitat and ultimately went broke. Now he's trying again, but with a twist: Mr. Barron is positioning his new seabed mining venture, The Metals Company, as green, to capitalize on a surge of environmentally minded investment.

TMC is set to receive nearly $600 million in investor cash in a deal slated to take the company public in July. If successful, that would value TMC at $2.9 billion-more than any mining company ever to go public in the U.S. with no revenue.

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Sydney Locks Down as Delta Covid-19 Variant Spreads

SYDNEY-Parts of Australia's largest city will go into a rare lockdown for at least a week as officials seek to stamp out an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus.

People who live or work in four areas in and near downtown Sydney and the iconic Bondi Beach have been ordered to stay home from Friday night to stem the spread of the virus first detected in the city last week.

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Vice President Kamala Harris Heads to Border Facing Bipartisan Pressure

Vice President Kamala Harris's visit to the southern border Friday caps a week in which she has been at the center of two of the thorniest issues facing the Biden administration: voting access and immigration.

Voting legislation, which stalled in the Senate on Tuesday when no Republicans joined Democrats on a key procedural vote, is a priority for Democrats, and the surge of migrants at the border has been a magnet for Republican critics of the administration. President Biden tapped Ms. Harris to lead diplomatic efforts aimed at stemming the flow of migrants and to improve access in the U.S. to voting. She has also been asked to help encourage Covid-19 vaccinations in the Deep South and to travel to promote Mr. Biden's legislative agenda.

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Derek Chauvin Faces Sentencing for Murder of George Floyd

MINNEAPOLIS-Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is expected to be sentenced Friday afternoon for the murder of George Floyd, closing out a chapter in a case that redefined the conversation over race and policing in the U.S.

Mr. Chauvin, 45 years old, was convicted in April of all counts: second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter in the killing of Mr. Floyd. The 46-year-old Black man died after the white officer knelt on his neck and back for more than nine minutes. Mr. Chauvin was fired from the Minneapolis police force.

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Pelosi to Form Select Committee to Probe Pro-Trump Assault on U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6

WASHINGTON-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said she will establish a select committee to investigate Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, after Senate Republicans blocked an earlier effort to establish a bipartisan independent commission.

The committee will investigate and report on the facts and the causes of the attack by supporters of former President Donald Trump, and will make recommendations for the prevention of any future attacks, Mrs. Pelosi said.

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Write to sarka.halas@wsj.com

TODAY IN CANADA

Earnings:

Nothing major scheduled

Economic Indicators (ET):

Nothing major scheduled

Stocks to Watch:

BlackBerry Posts Lower Rev, Narrower Adjusted Loss; Auto Ops Remain Strong

BlackBerry Ltd. reported lower first-quarter revenue as well as a narrower adjusted loss and said its auto business has been strong despite global chip shortages.

The company said the number of vehicles with QNX software embedded has increased to 195 million. BlackBerry said it continues to see strong pipeline growth for new unified endpoint security products.

Revenue was $174 million for the quarter ended May 31, down from $206 million a year earlier. Net loss was $62 million, or 11 cents a share, compared with a loss of $636 million, or $1.14 a share, a year earlier, which reflect a goodwill impairment charge.

Adjusted loss was 5 cents a share. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected an adjusted loss of 6 cents a share.

Shares rose 9 cents after hours to $12.77.

Expected Major Events for Friday

06:00/GER: Jul GfK consumer climate survey

08:00/ITA: Jun Consumer Confidence Survey

08:00/ITA: Jun Business Confidence Survey

08:30/UK: May Capital issuance

09:00/ITA: May Foreign Trade non-EU

10:00/UK: Jun CBI Distributive Trades Survey

11:00/UK: 2Q Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin

12:30/US: May Personal Income & Outlays

14:00/US: Jun University of Michigan Survey of Consumers - final

14:00/US: 1Q GDP by State

All times in GMT. Powered by Kantar Media and Dow Jones.

Expected Earnings for Friday

Abraxas Petroleum (AXAS) is expected to report for 4Q.

Air T Inc (AIRT) is expected to report for 4Q.

Apogee Enterprises Inc (APOG) is expected to report $0.35 for 1Q.

Camber Energy Inc (CEI) is expected to report for 4Q.

Camber Energy Inc (CEI) is expected to report for 1Q.

CarMax Inc (KMX) is expected to report $1.61 for 1Q.

Emerson Radio (MSN) is expected to report for 4Q.

Flanigan's Enterprises Inc (BDL) is expected to report for 2Q.

Hanwei Energy (HE.T,HNWEF) is expected to report for 4Q.

Medley Management Inc (MDLX,MDLY) is expected to report for 1Q.

MexcoEnergy (MXC) is expected to report for 4Q.

Paychex Inc (PAYX) is expected to report $0.67 for 4Q.

Second Sight Medical Products Inc (EYES) is expected to report for 1Q.

Sequential Brands Group Inc (SQBG) is expected to report for 1Q.

Powered by Kantar Media and Dow Jones.

ANALYST RATINGS ACTIONS

Acadia Realty Trust Raised to Buy From Hold by Truist Securities

Aptiv Raised to Buy From Neutral by Guggenheim

Armstrong World Raised to Buy From Hold by Zelman

Dollar Tree Cut to Neutral From Overweight by Piper Sandler

FMC Corporation Cut to Hold From Buy by Vertical Research

Intersect ENT Raised to Outperform From Market Perform by SVB Leerink

Invitation Homes Cut to Hold From Buy by Zelman

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

06-25-21 0613ET