One of the critical questions that needs answering about the pandemic is how readily the novel coronavirus is spread by people who don’t develop symptoms. With the scourge worsening every day, the World Health Organization reiterated Tuesday that the jury is still out on so-called super spreaders. Uncertainty over the issue has hindered efforts to re-open economies, with the New England Journal of Medicine previously warning that transmission by seemingly healthy people is “the Achilles’ heel of Covid-19 pandemic control.” —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 storiesStephen Roach writes in Bloomberg Opinion that the world is having serious doubts about the once widely accepted concept of American exceptionalism. A crash in the dollar, he warns, may be coming. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden slammed President Donald Trump’s stewardship of the economy, saying the Republican “inherited the longest economic expansion in history from the Obama-Biden administration, but like everything else he’s inherited, he has squandered it.” The former vice president criticized Republican tax cuts that mostly benefited companies and the rich, saying Trump “turned his back on the middle class.” The pandemic is affecting one of the best perks of workplace retirement-savings plans: company matches to employee 401(k) contributions. Firms in the hard-hit hospitality and retail industries have already suspended, reduced or deferred matches, and many more are planning or considering such a move. Snowflake, a cloud data platform that was valued at $12.4 billion in February, has confidentially filed initial public offering paperwork.Fangdd Network Group, a Shenzen, China-based real estate firm, nearly quintupled on Tuesday, jumping 395% to close at $47.06 per American depository receipt after starting the day at $10. No one seems to know why. Harvard University is asking employees to consider a series of voluntary measures, including early retirement, giving up vacation and reducing work hours as it faces a revenue shortfall of $1.2 billion.Bulgarian prosecutors call Vasil Bozhkov the nation’s most dangerous man. Now the fugitive gambling tycoon is planning to return home to exonerate himself by toppling the government. What you’ll need to know tomorrowPhilippines plans construction on disputed South China Sea island.Apple wants to make its own chips, dumping those made by Intel.Retail stock buyers are driving the market froth.The coronavirus is killing a really big New Jersey mall.Disney spent millions on a rain forest, but nobody is happy.Founder who turned down Softbank is set to become a billionaire.Amsterdam wants to clean up its sex-and-drugs image.What you’ll want to read tonight in Bloomberg GreenBy the time the ribbon is cut in 2029 on the interestingly named Sunshine Project, a $9.4 billion petrochemical plant in Louisiana’s cancer alley, single-use plastic bags will likely be restricted for most shoppers in the U.S. But Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group is betting plastic use will only increase as time goes on. Like Bloomberg’s Evening Briefing? Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Bloomberg’s Green Daily is where climate science meets the future of energy, technology and finance. Sign up for our daily newsletter to get the smartest takes from our team of 10 climate columnists. Sign up here. 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. |