For years, people have been lamenting the decline of capital-raising prowess in the U.S. stock market. While long moribund, exchanges have of late shown themselves to be venues for instantaneous wealth creation, including this week when DoorDash and Airbnb soared in their first public trades. —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

The Federal Reserve is casting a long shadow over the world’s biggest bond market, derailing a classic recovery trade and underscoring how an era of central-bank intervention will reverberate for some time to come.

The U.S. appears poised to cross 300,000 Covid-19 deaths in the next week, close to one-fifth of all coronavirus deaths worldwide. America has more than one-fifth of all confirmed coronavirus infections.

France’s rate of infection continues to climb and Portugal reported record single-day deaths. Singapore is tightening border measures in light of the worsening outbreak in Hong Kong. And the World Health Organization is evaluating vaccine candidates. In the U.S., California’s new cases rose to a record as intensive-care availability sank and New York City took another step backward. Some 3,115 Americans died from Covid-19 yesterday, more than all that perished on Sept. 11, 2001. Here is the latest on the pandemic.

Sweden’s government will start exploring the feasibility of having the country move to a digital currency, marking another step into the unknown for the world’s most cashless society.

Fearing loss of control of the U.S. Senate, Republicans are filing lawsuits that could limit the way Georgia residents can vote in two upcoming runoffs that will decide control of the chamber, and perhaps President-elect Joe Biden's legislative agenda. Among other things, the suits seek to shrink voting access via drop boxes and mail-in ballots, similar to Republican efforts that were rejected ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

Everything we know about modern economics might be wrong, and this is the man who says he can prove it.

Taihei Kobayashi has gone from sleeping on the streets of Tokyo to heading a technology startup whose market value topped $1 billion. This is how he went from rags to some serious riches.

Taihei Kobayashi in Tokyo.

Photographer: Shoko Takayasu/Bloomberg

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

• White House hinted FDA chief’s job in jeopardy over vaccine sign-off.
• Multiple proposed Covid-19 vaccines are running into trouble.
• U.S. to buy 100 million more doses of Moderna drug, company says.
• Proposed Covid-19 pill has sent this pharma stock up 2,000%.
• Wall Street CEO says his bankers can move wherever they want.
• Bitwise Crypto Trust jumped 72% since its debut two days ago.
• The car to drive in 2021 isn’t a car at all: it’s an electric truck.

What you’ll want to read in Bloomberg Wealth

Covid Has Triggered a New Kind of  Midlife Crisis

The pandemic has prompted a financial reckoning akin to a midlife crisis. In the public imagination, these typically lead to new sports cars or affairs, but often their effects are more common and muted. Brought on by health scares or job losses, people start to question life choices and ponder their mortality. 

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