It turns out that Covid-19 was already in the U.S. in December 2019, providing further evidence that the coronavirus was spreading globally weeks before the first cases were reported in China. A majority of Americans could theoretically be vaccinated by the second quarter of next year, but right now, more than 1,000 people are dying every day, and hospitalizations are spiking in the Northeast. Here is the latest on the pandemic. —David E. Rovella Bloomberg is mapping the pandemic globally and across America. For the latest news, sign up for our Covid-19 podcast and daily newsletter. Here are today’s top storiesHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are proposing revised plans for a second coronavirus bailout package, reviving the possibility of a deal that stalled before the election. President-elect Joe Biden called on Congress to pass a new rescue package quickly. Stocks climbed to record highs again. Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell Credit traders who make their living matching buyers with sellers of company bonds are poised for a 16% jump in total compensation, the biggest gain among Wall Street trading desks during this bonus season. Visa is partnering with cryptocurrency startup BlockFi to offer a credit card that rewards purchases with Bitcoin. A year ago, if anyone in the petroleum business had suggested that the moment of Peak Oil had already passed, they would have been laughed right off the drilling rig. Then 2020 happened. A former Tesla employee who locked horns with Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has agreed to pay the company $400,000 for telling reporters about production delays at the Gigafactory in Nevada. Professionals working from home aren’t just working more hours and getting less exercise. They are also watching more television—a lot more. What you’ll need to know tomorrowGeorgia Senate battle sets the stage for a bigger fight in 2022. Barr says his Russia probe-probe will continue into Biden’s first term. Trump’s quest to void Biden’s election is getting more unlikely. The big Wall Street debate: Should you by Bitcoin or gold? China’s economic attack on Australia is a warning to everyone else. How wrong was Milton Friedman? Let Harvard count the ways. Americans are increasingly eager to cut down their own trees.What you’ll want to read in Bloomberg TechnologyAmazon is laying the groundwork for building its own quantum computer, deepening efforts to harness technology that can crunch in seconds vast amounts of data that take the most powerful supercomputers hours or days to process. IBM’s quantum computer Like getting the Evening Briefing? Subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and gain expert analysis from exclusive subscriber-only newsletters. Tune in to Bloomberg wherever you are.Download the Radio.com app so you can listen to Bloomberg Radio anytime, getting instant access to breaking news and analysis from business leaders and influencers available nowhere else. Download the Bloomberg app: It’s available for iOS and Android. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. Learn more. |