Britain on Tuesday became the first western country to start administering a coronavirus shot (developed by BioNTech and Pfizer) as a peer-reviewed study said a different vaccine (developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca) provided protection against severe cases of Covid-19, but shortcomings in data meant more analysis is needed on how it works for the elderly. On a day when U.S. infections surpassed 15 million, and as American deaths steadily approach 300,000, the Food and Drug Administration gave early indications it may authorize use of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine. President-elect Joe Biden vowed to get 100 million doses of vaccines distributed to Americans in the first 100 days of his administration. But there are unanswered questions for a post-vaccine world, including whether the drugs prevent a protected recipient from infecting others. Here is the latest on the pandemic. —David E. Rovella 

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Here are today’s top stories

Tech stocks are soaring and high-profile initial public offerings are set to mint millionaires. Yet in San Francisco, the boom times are over. On Tuesday, stock markets rose on optimism over a new Covid-19 rescue package. Here is the markets wrap.

Wealthy Americans, largely untouched by a recession that has put millions of people out of work and on food lines, are on a homebuying binge. Demand for million-dollar homes is growing faster than any other price tier in the pandemic-driven housing boom. 

American Express will focus on refreshing many of its most popular cards next year to help retain fee-paying customers and persuade more of them to upgrade. Get ready for some new perks.

Elon Musk, the second richest human on Earth, has moved to Texas to focus on two big priorities for his companies: SpaceX’s new Starship vehicle and Tesla’s new Gigafactory, currently under construction in Austin. Oh, and the red state has no personal income tax.

A prototype of the SpaceX Starship in Cameron County, Texas, in 2019.

Photographer: Bronte Wittpenn/Bloomberg

Senator Mitch McConnell’s insistence on freeing up businesses from liability for their role in people getting sick or dying from Covid-19, and Republican refusal to help Democratic-leaning states crushed by pandemic costs, may ultimately doom a second rescue package. Meanwhile, millions of Americans are about to see their benefits expire and states will soon be forced to make catastrophic budget cuts.

McConnell was one of the Republicans on a congressional panel planning inauguration ceremonies who blocked a resolution stating they were preparing for the swearing-in Biden. The refusal to recognize the Democrat’s defeat of President Donald Trump came as Texas asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block four states that chose Biden from participating in the Electoral College, perhaps the last long-shot bid by Trump allies to cancel the election and keep Trump in power. Trump himself is seeking help from Republican state officials to prevent Biden from entering the White House.

U.S. President Donald Trump 

What’s Joe Weisenthal thinking about? The Bloomberg news director says that, throughout this pandemic recession, one of the more worrisome economic trends has been the rise in permanent unemployment. Initially the headline rate soared to unimaginable levels, but that was mostly driven by temporary furloughs on account of the virus and related restrictions. Since then, we’ve seen a sharp drop in unemployment, with most of the improvement simply the reversal of those layoffs. Meanwhile, permanent firings have picked up at a pace faster than prior to the Great Recession.

But there are signs that maybe things are starting to abate a little bit, according to Joe. Here’s the chart from Calculated Risk on the permanent job-loss trajectory versus the last two recessions. We’re still on a worse pace overall, but the deterioration has slowed over the past few months. While it may worsen further yet, particularly if the next few months are rough on the virus front (as expected), it’s not in complete freefall like it was a few months ago. That’s something, at least.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

• Devastated by Covid-19, Latin America is unprepared for a vaccine.
• CVS, Walgreens hire pharmacists, nurses to give vaccine shots.
• Kushner Cos. spent the Trump years unwinding some costly bets.
• Robinhood is losing thousands of customers to a Chinese rival.
• How a top oil trader spent years paying bribes.
• A $23 billion firm had a 562% stock rally, but no analyst coverage.
• Fidelity sued by former employee alleging “locker room culture.”

What you’ll want to read in Bloomberg Screentime

Batman Director Sees HBO Max ‘Dysfunction’

The backlash over Warner Bros.’ plan to release all its movies on the HBO Max streaming service intensified after one of Hollywood’s top names criticized the move. Batman trilogy director Christopher Nolan, who has a long relationship with the studio, assailed the plan, saying “even the most casual Wall Street investor can see the difference between disruption and dysfunction.”

Warner Bros. “Wonder Woman” will streak on HBO Max

Photographer: Warner Bros.

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