Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Trump’s big gamble

Evening Briefing
Bloomberg

Hong Kong lawmakers warn that its status as an international financial center is in jeopardy after China announced dramatic plans to crush dissent by writing a new national security law into the city’s charter. Any attempt to impose authoritarian security laws now could reignite massive pro-democracy demonstrations that hammered the city’s economy last year and increased U.S.-China tensionsJosh Petri

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 stories

President Donald Trump is gambling on a sudden U.S. recovery with both lives and livelihoods as he fights to win another term in office this fall, writes Peter Coy in Bloomberg Businessweek. It’s a familiar concept in game theory: if you’re behind and the stakes are high, bold moves make sense even if there’s only a small chance they will pay off. If the gamble fails, he’s no worse off because he was probably going to lose the election anyway. For Americans, the cost may be grave.

Trump’s push to reopen could cost tens of thousands more American lives on top of the 94,000 who have perished on his watch. It may also cost him votes. Most of those Americans lost to the virus might be alive today had shutdowns and social distancing begun two weeks earlier.

Millions more Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, indicating massive job losses are continuing two months after the pandemic started shuttering businesses. Initial jobless claims for regular state programs totaled 2.44 million in the week ended May 16. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday said Congress will likely need to pass more bailout legislation, though Republicans in the Senate oppose it.

The U.S. threw its weight behind one of the fastest-moving experimental solutions to the pandemic, pledging as much as $1.2 billion to AstraZeneca to help make the University of Oxford’s Covid vaccine.

A cluster of Covid-19 cases in China’s Rust Belt region has intensified worry over a second wave of infections. In the U.S., one-third of adults have delayed or avoided getting medical care during the outbreak, according to government estimates. A report from a London college estimates 4.1% of the U.S. population has been infected. There have now been over 5 million global cases of the virus, and 330,000 have died. Here's the latest.

U.S. retailers sparked a culture war last year when they asked workers to gently encourage gun-carrying customers to leave their firearms outside. The ill-defined policies put employees in a difficult, even dangerous position, thrusting them onto the front lines of a contentious national debate. Now it’s happening again. This time the issue is shoppers wearing masks inside grocery stores.

When the Fed needed Wall Street’s help with its pandemic rescue mission, it went straight to Larry Fink and BlackRock. Again.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

What you’ll want to read tonight in Businessweek

Big Beer Will Need Years to Recover From Virus

The prospect of once-bustling pubs reopening as ghost towns is a major problem for brewing giants such as Anheuser-Busch InBev, Carlsberg, and Heineken. While Americans prefer to drink at home—carryout sales account for about four-fifths of U.S. consumption—restaurants, bars and cafes represent about half of brewers’ revenue in much of Europe. And the woes are compounded by the shutdown of soccer and other sports, as well as the cancellation of big events such as Oktoberfest.

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.

Submit a tip to Bloomberg. Do you have a confidential news tip? Here are the ways you can get in touch with our reporters.

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.

Older messages

Powell walks the line

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Bloomberg Follow Us Get the newsletter Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who testified along with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at a virtual hearing of the Senate Banking Committee on

Sounding the alarm on stocks

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Bloomberg Follow Us Get the newsletter Some of Wall Street's biggest names are sounding the alarm on stocks, while Fed Chairman Jerome Powell highlighted unprecedented risks to the US economy and

‘Controlled’ infections

Friday, May 15, 2020

Bloomberg Follow Us Get the newsletter A group of US East Coast states is coordinating the opening of beaches for Memorial Day weekend. Italy had the fewest new coronavirus cases in four days while the

America’s looming summer

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Bloomberg Follow Us Get the newsletter Repeated warnings, including a particularly grim one Thursday on Capitol Hill, have fallen on deaf ears as US cities and states move to lift stay-at-home orders

Sweden’s deadly experiment

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Bloomberg Follow Us Get the newsletter Those who doubt the efficacy of shutdowns and mandated social distancing in slowing the spread of Covid-19 may want to look at the grim lesson learned by Sweden.

You Might Also Like

AI Ruins Education the way Pulleys Ruin Powerlifting

Monday, April 29, 2024

Plus! The Other Kind of Bank Unwind; AI Asset Plays; Retail Rides Again; Single-Family Rentals; AI Math AI Ruins Education the way Pulleys Ruin Powerlifting By Byrne Hobart • 29 Apr 2024 View in

Rodney's Take 4-29-24 Millennials Want Your Golf Course House

Monday, April 29, 2024

image Rodney's Take April 29, 2024 Millennials Get Screwed Again In 2017, my wife and I moved from Tampa to a small town halfway between Houston and Galveston. We'd bought our last home in

🥵 The Fed’s sweating

Sunday, April 28, 2024

Plus, everything you need to know for the week ahead | Finimize Hi Reader. Here's a look at what you need to know for the week ahead and the things you might have missed last week. In The Hot Seat

Don’t let this cost you thousands in home repairs.

Sunday, April 28, 2024

How you could help avoid foundation damage, leaks, and more. ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌

Smart Investors Know: Success starts within...

Sunday, April 28, 2024

Start investing in yourself. ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌

Longreads + Open Thread

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Reservations, Mallaby, Ebooks, Buybacks, TSMC, GAAP, ISAs Longreads + Open Thread By Byrne Hobart • 27 Apr 2024 View in browser View in browser Longreads Adam Iscoe writes about the lively secondary

Don’t let vet bills break the bank

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Here's how to protect your budget and your pet. ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌

Inflation comes full circle

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Bloomberg Weekend Reading View in browser Bloomberg Wait long enough and most economic conversations come full circle. The chatter on Wall Street is no longer about a soft landing but instead how

A 96% Win Rate - in a Simple Options Trade

Saturday, April 27, 2024

The following is a third-party sponsored message. It should not be considered a recommendation or endorsement by HS Dent Publishing. Hugh Grossman Fellow Investor, Here's a question: If a simple

🛢 Oil giants paid shareholders billions

Friday, April 26, 2024

The yen reached its lowest level since the '90s | Oil giants Exxon and Chevron showed off their stuff | Finimize TOGETHER WITH Hi Reader, here's what you need to know for April 27th in 3:14