Trading in Asia was mostly flat today, and futures markets suggest a mixed day in the U.S.

Explainer: “The real risk is not that insurmountable challenges knock the economy off course,” our senior economics correspondent writes. “It is that poor leadership converts moderate economic shocks into a crisis.”

From Opinion: The columnist Paul Krugman asks whether White House policies “matter for the economy, or for the stock market (which isn’t at all the same thing).”

Another migrant child dies in U.S. custody

On Tuesday, an 8-year-old boy from Guatemala became the second child to die in detention at the southwest border in less than three weeks. It is unclear if his death was the result of the care he received in the U.S., of an arduous journey or of some combination of the two.

The response: A White House spokesman said the boy’s death was “very sad” and that the administration was seeking more information.