The Federal Reserve on Wednesday pushed aside predictions of looming inflation that have been emanating from some quarters. The central bank said it’s continuing to project near-zero interest rates at least through 2023. While the Fed upgraded its economic outlook and acknowledged some officials see rates rising sooner, Chair Jerome Powell stressed that this was the minority view. Any bump in inflation this year, the Fed said, will be short-lived. Stocks hit a new record. —David E. Rovella

Bloomberg is tracking the progress of coronavirus vaccines while mapping the pandemic globally and across America.

Here are today’s top stories

Good news for U.S. taxpayers: The Internal Revenue Service is moving back the April 15 deadline for taxes, though this year’s extension will be a shorter than last year’s. With new exemptions provided under the latest coronavirus bailout package, the delay will give taxpayers additional breathing room in what is becoming one of the most complicated tax seasons in decades.

More than 138 peaceful protesters including children have been shot dead by agents of the Myanmar military junta since the Feb. 1 military coup, the United Nations said. UN officials said the daily killings by forces led by coup-leader Min Aung Hlaing arguably rise to the level of crimes against humanity.

Democracy protesters run from tear gas fired by Myanmar soldiers and police as others use fire extinguishers to protect their retreat from live fire in Mandalay on March 15.

Photographer: STR/AFP

The infighting over coronavirus vaccine distribution in Europe is getting worse. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen threatened to withhold vaccine exports to the U.K., where almost half of all adults have gotten a shot. In Japan, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga aims to lift a state of emergency in the Tokyo region by March 21. And Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease doctor, warned that dangerous variants continue to threaten progress his country has made in reducing cases and immunizing the population. Here is the latest on the pandemic.

The $1,400 deposits from President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion rescue bill began landing in American bank accounts Wednesday, ready to pay for groceries, rent and past-due bills. Over at Robinhood, the embattled day-trader app simultaneously started offering bonuses to investors who deposit any spare cash they may have lying around. Robinhood said the timing was a coincidence.

Morgan Stanley plans to offer wealthy clients access to three funds that will enable ownership of Bitcoin. And at Grayscale Investments, the company behind the world’s largest Bitcoin fund, new trusts are on offer that allow you to invest specifically in five different cryptocurrencies.

U.S. companies that pay their chief executives at least 50 times more than the typical employee would face higher taxes under a new bill being pushed by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders

Source: Bloomberg

For these rich folks, it probably seemed like a sure thing. For every $1 they invested in partnerships promising to preserve green space, they would get $4 in charitable deductions they could shave off their taxes. But those deals may have cheated the Internal Revenue Service out of $250 million, and its agents are not amused. Said one federal prosecutor: “The IRS hates these things.”

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

What you’ll want to read tonight in Businessweek

Meet Florida’s Horse Slaughter Vigilante

From his secret compound in South Florida, Richard Couto stages undercover buys to bring down unlicensed slaughterhouses. Police say they’d be happy to work with him, if only he’d follow the rules. When it comes to the Dark Knight of an animal-slaughter underworld between Miami and Everglades, you don’t find him. He finds you.

Richard Couto.

Photographer: Rose Marie Cromwell for Bloomberg Businessweek

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Mental Health and the Economy: Join us March 24 for an in-depth conversation about the mental and emotional toll inflicted by Covid-19 and its economic fallout. Executives from Cigna and Unilever and a leading expert on the pandemic’s psychological impact discuss what the public and private sectors can do to safeguard citizens’ mental health. Register here.

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