A rising appetite for risk across a variety of asset markets is stretching valuations and creating peril in the U.S. financial system, the Federal Reserve warned. “Vulnerabilities associated with elevated risk appetite are rising,” Fed Governor Lael Brainard, the head of the Board’s financial stability committee, said in a statement accompanying the report released Thursday. “The combination of stretched valuations with very high levels of corporate indebtedness bear watching because of the potential to amplify the effects of a re-pricing event.” —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 

Coinbase Global sank to a record low as investors fled high-flying market newcomers. The operator of the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange slumped 6% to $256.76 on Thursday, dropping for a fourth straight day. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey issued a stark warning to those investing in cryptocurrencies: “Buy them only if you’re prepared to lose all your money.”

Shortages of semiconductors are battering automakers and tech giants, raising alarm from Washington to Brussels to Beijing. The crunch has raised a fundamental question for policymakers, customers and investors: Why can’t we just make more chips?

The pharmaceutical companies hate it. The Biden administration is embracing it. Now, finding common ground for wider distribution of Covid-19 vaccines in poorer countries falls to the World Trade Organization, a body known more for its inability to do deals than to clinch them.

A mathematical model prepared by advisers to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggests India’s catastrophic coronavirus outbreak could peak soon. The team’s most recent forecast puts them more in line with other scientists, who have suggested a mid-May peak for India. Here is the latest on the pandemic.

 A priest walks among funeral pyres in New Delhi on May 1. With cases crossing 400,000 a day and with more than 3,500 deaths recorded every 24 hours, India's Covid-19 crisis has been intensifying.

Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Getty Images AsiaPac

The S&P 500 closed near session highs while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to a record. Applications for U.S. state unemployment insurance fell last week to a fresh pandemic low. Separate data highlighted a rebound in productivity in the first quarter as the pace of output exceeded a pickup in hours worked. Economists predict Friday’s employment report will show the U.S. added about 1 million jobs in April.

Paramount Pictures is in a pay dispute with a Hollywood power couple over the studio’s streaming plans for the new horror picture “A Quiet Place Part II,”  creating a behind-the-scenes drama that could affect the income of other big stars.

 Emily Blunt and John Krasinski 

Photographer: Mike Coppola/Getty Images

We assigned a Bloomberg reporter to drive 1,100 miles in an RV during a global pandemic, heading out to the motor home capital of the world. The crisis has been good for owners of vacation rental properties and shareholders of Airbnb. It’s also been great for the RV industry. 

What you’ll need to know tomorrow 

• Just about everything costs more at U.S. grocery stores.
• The AMC movie theater chain just posted a $562 million loss.
• SEC Chair Gensler warns crypto investors have no protections.
• Biden is likely to maintain the U.S. China investment ban.
• China’s bonds are nearing pressure points as liquidity tightens.
• New York’s De Blasio wants to give more money to the NYPD.
• Could the next space station could be a hotel?

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What you’ll want to read in Bloomberg Wealth

 Where to Invest $100,000 In Asia Right Now

In the U.S., a growth rate of 6.4% sounds pretty good. But that’s until you see the forecasts for China and other Asian economies in 2021. China’s economy is expected to close the year with an 8.4% growth rate. Similar rises are on order for some of its neighbors. So here is where you should invest $100,000 in Asia.

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