Today is a big day for the phonemaker Nokia. A chance to remain relevant — or perhaps better said: regain relevance in the smartphone world — when it unveils a new phone that uses Microsoft’s operating system. The company will have about a week to make a splash with this phone before Apple’s new iPhone comes out, but it may already be too late for Microsoft and Nokia to catch up.

The government said this morning that productivity rose last quarter by 2.2 percent. That’s more than originally thought, and it means that businesses are doing more with less. Josh Brown of Fusion Analytics discusses the numbers.

FedEx has just downgraded its quarterly earnings forecast for the second time because of concerns about the global economy. UPS did the same thing earlier this summer. What does this mean for the broader economy?

Teachers in Chicago could go on strike next week if the school district and the teachers union can’t agree on a new contract by Sunday night. It would be the first strike for a big-city school district since 2006, when Detroit teachers walked off the job for 16 days. For the last year, union leaders have tried to push Mayor Rahm Emanuel into focusing on other issues: smaller class sizes, more art and music programs and job security.

The International Monetary Fund is said to be close to a multi-billion dollar deal to aid Egypt, which is currently grappling with major budgetary problems. The Obama administration is also looking to contribute another billion.

And finally, two artists ruffled some feathers at the Venice Biennale this year when they decided to paint a number of pigeons with non-toxic spray paint. Julian Charrière and Julius von Bismarck have gotten a range of reactions from their artsy experiment.