Among the known unknowns of the coronavirus pandemic’s second year are what effect variants will have on the ongoing effort to successfully vaccinate the human population. Initial research showed several strains to be more easily transmitted and potentially more deadly. Critical to the vaccination effort is whether shots currently being administered will protect against these mutations. In South Africa, there has been bad news about the AstraZeneca drug’s effectiveness against a variant first spotted there. But on Tuesday, there was good news regarding a different vaccine: A study showed that Pfizer-BioNTech shots have a high ability to neutralize the South Africa variant, as well as those from Brazil and the U.K. And it gets better: BioNTech said it may have capacity to produce 3 billion doses with Pfizer next year, making the drug far more widely available around the world. Here’s the latest on the pandemic. —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  

Senator Elizabeth Warren renewed her attacks on Citadel Securities and Robinhood Markets on Tuesday, calling the companies at the center of the GameStop trading saga “big sharks” that profited at the expense of their customers.

Investors poured back into the market’s riskiest assets as dip-buyers powered the Nasdaq 100’s recovery from a very rough patch. The left-for-dead value trade roared back to wipe out all of its pandemic losses, with its revival reshaping the $2 trillion world of factor investing. Here is your markets wrap.

Bitcoin has zero intrinsic value and some people are just fine with that. The former chief economist of Citigroup isn’t one of them: Willem Buiter likens the funny money to Schrodinger’s cat.

Willem Buiter

Photographer: Christopher Goodney/Bloomberg

In an age of accelerating climate catastrophe, companies are tripping over each other to claim green credentials. Most asset managers, however, refuse to support environmental shareholder resolutions. It turns out that the money managers who actually signed a United Nations-backed pledge to incorporate ESG in their investing strategy are among the worst offenders.  

U.S. President Joe Biden’s soon-to-be-unveiled, longer-term economic recovery plan faces far tougher obstacles in Congress than his pandemic-relief bill. Here is the bumpy road ahead.

Amazon-backed Rivian said it will roll out three brand new electric vehicle models—a van, a pickup and an SUV—all at the same time.

Being boring has its advantages, according to behavioral economists. A week ago, Peter Coy wrote in Bloomberg Businessweek about seven ways you can trick yourself into making good financial decisions. Now he has seven more.

Illustration: Yann Bastard

Illustration: Yann Bastard

What you’ll need to know tomorrow 

• Sharks or no, GameStop defied gravity with a 100% spike.
• Trader buys $36 million in copper and gets painted rocks instead.
• Big tech firms should be worried as Biden builds his antitrust team.
• Major exporters take unusual steps to ease container shortage.
• Hackers breach security cameras at hospitals, jails and Tesla.
• Gates-backed startup joins race to make green hydrogen cheaper.
• NextEra bets on new power generator that runs without combustion.

Paid Post Whitepaper  | Moat Index’s Long-term Track Record Persists Despite Blip VanEck

What you’ll want to read in Equality + Businessweek

The Racial Fallout of Unfair Property Taxes 

Local officials have overvalued the lowest-priced homes relative to the highest across the U.S., nationwide data show. From 2006 through 2016, inaccurate valuations gave the least expensive homes in St. Louis an effective tax rate almost four times higher than the most expensive. In Baltimore it was more than two times higher. In New York City it was three times higher. The residential property tax, which raises more than $500 billion annually to pay for public schools, fire departments, and other local services, is, in effect, racist.

Di Leshea Scott in front of the Detroit home she once owned, and now rents.

Photographer: Sylvia Jarrus

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