With votes still being cast all over the nation, the legal battle promised by Donald Trump has already begun, as Republican lawyers on Election Day challenged the counting of absentee ballots in a key Democratic-leaning district. A federal judge meanwhile ordered the U.S. Postal Service, attacked by watchdogs and Democrats for allegedly trying to help Trump claim a second term, to look for any missing ballots in its facilities across several swing states. Bloomberg has your hour-by-hour guide to election night. Here is the latest on the voting.  —David E. Rovella

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Here are today’s top stories

Bloomberg News is reporting live election results in the presidential race. It’s possible that neither Trump nor former Vice President Joe Biden reaches the 270 electoral votes needed to win by the end of the night. But here is where you need to look to see how the map is shaping up.

More than 70% of the total votes in 2016 were cast this year before a single person entered the polls Tuesday. This is what that tells us.

The rate of growth in U.S. coronavirus infections has surpassed Morgan Stanley’s bear-case scenario, and investors wonder if America will follow Europe with lockdowns. Cases soared in key states before Election Day. In Europe, nations including Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary suffered their deadliest days yet. Italy and Sweden are laying out new curbs, while French fatalities rose by 854, the most since April 15. Here is the latest on the pandemic.

Medical staff work in the Covid-19 intensive care unit at the Maggiore Hospital in Bologna, Italy, on Oct. 29.

Photographer: Michele Lapini/Getty Images

Chinese companies have made a seemingly unstoppable push to the front of the race for a coronavirus vaccine. Yet their speedy ascent has been unhindered by common scientific setbacks being reported by Western rivals, raising questions about how stringently they are vetting and reporting potential safety issues.

If you’ve got money invested in markets anywhere in the world, you’d be forgiven for being nervous about what will happen over the next few hours  or days (or weeks). When it comes to the market, this is what you should and should not do before a winner is declared.

It was heralded as China’s answer to JPMorgan. Instead, with a $35 billion initial public offering all but sealed, Chinese authorities suddenly threw doubt on the future of Ant Group and its celebrated founder, the billionaire Jack Ma.

Jack Ma

Photographer: Marlene Awaad/Bloomberg

Dealmakers are in a record-breaking rush to get transactions done before what could be one of the most contentious U.S. elections ever. Companies have announced $143.1 billion of mergers and acquisitions globally in the past seven days, the highest for any week preceding a U.S. presidential vote since Bloomberg started collecting data. 

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

• How a club of multimillionaires are election-proofing their money.
• Brexit negotiators race for a breakthrough as time runs short.
• China is halting key Australia imports while tensions mount.
• The billionaire who dumped Wall Street to manage his own money.
• A bankrupt Indian carrier is the world’s best-performing airline stock.
• Invesco’s hunt for yield leads it to Canadian provincial debt.
• China’s hog farm reboot may be a boon to global fertilizer makers.

What you’ll want to read in Bloomberg Politics

What America’s Final Decision Looks Like

An unprecedented election. That’s what many said of 2016 when a New York real estate developer surprised the world by winning the White House. What followed was a first term that saw Donald Trump upend established norms while trying to reverse much of what his predecessor had sought to accomplish. Four years later, the word unprecedented has taken on a wholly different meaning. We sent photographers all over the country to watch as people decided who should be their president.

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No Playbook—Leading Through Uncertainty: Changes in the workplace have been accelerated by the pandemic and the ongoing U.S. reckoning on race. Join us Nov. 6 for the next Bloomberg Equality briefing as executives from Expensify and sponsor P&G discuss who is creating a blueprint for leading through these tumultuous times. Register here.

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