Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Crypto gets hammered

The Colonial Pipeline, the crucial U.S. fossil fuel conduit debilitated by what federal authorities said was a foreign cyberattack, ran into trouble again, leaving customers in the dark about shipments. The computer system that allows oil refiners and other clients to reserve space and monitor the status of fuel traveling through the pipeline was back online by Tuesday, but shortages continue to plague some cities and towns as Colonial struggles to restore supplies along the East Coast. —Margaret Sutherlin

Bloomberg is tracking the progress of coronavirus vaccines while mapping the pandemic globally and across America. 

Here are today’s top stories  

Crypto is getting hammered. Bitcoin fell as much as 5.1% to $42,547 in New York after the People’s Bank of China reiterated that the digital tokens cannot be used as a form of payment. Doge and Ether also fell. Bitcoin’s week-long dive was sparked by Elon Musk’s comments on Tesla’s holdings of the coin, and his criticism of the environmental impact of crypto-mining. Bitcoin is now at its lowest level since early February and some say the largest cryptocurrency could go as low as $40,000.

After devastating India’s biggest cities, the latest Covid-19 wave is now ravaging rural areas across the world’s second-most populous country, and most villages have no way to fight it. The result is entire families are dying from the the disease. In the U.S., where a fourth wave seems to have been short-lived, a deadly Covid-linked syndrome in children may be undercounted. That’s disquieting news for parents of unvaccinated children under 12, or for those of adolescents who have yet to get their shots. The U.K. may approve Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine in days to get ahead of the fast moving Indian variant. Here’s the latest on the pandemic.

Fighting between Israel and Hamas raged on Tuesday. The death toll continued to rise with hundreds of Palestinians killed by Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip and a dozen people inside Israeli dead from Hamas rocket and mortar fire. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said his military has “thousands more attack targets.” With global condemnation of the bombing growing, unrest is now spreading to the West Bank. 

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration will delay until June 11 a ban on new investments in certain Chinese companies. An executive order by the previous administration would halt investments in firms owned or controlled by the Chinese military, but the measure apparently created some confusion on Wall Street. 

Where’s the best place to be an expatriate? The annual rankings are out, measuring the cost of living, ease of settling in and overall quality of life in countries around the world. The U.S. didn’t even crack the top 10. Here’s who did. 

Covid-19 hasn’t gone away and variants still threaten, but Americans are ready to shop. They’re buying up luggage, designer clothes and teeth whiteners—all products that suffered under lockdown. Macy’s reported stronger than expected profit, Walmart raised its forecast and Home Depot beat predictions. Here’s your markets wrap. 

The world’s second largest country is running out of land. Canada’s housing market is hotter than just about anywhere else in the world, filled with anxiety over irrational bidding wars and fear of a bursting bubble. But something truly strange is driving this frenzy.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow 

• Amazon makes a $9 billion bid for MGM’s movie studio.
• JPMorgan taps two women to lead its consumer banking unit.
• Bank of America raised its minimum wage to $25 an hour.
• The Big Take: London’s property boom left out Black Britons.
• Businessweek: The annual How-To issue has landed. 
• Fidelity to open stock trading for kids. What could possibly go wrong? 
• The restaurant apocalypse wasn’t as bad as we thought.  

  Black Worker Burnout Risks Diversity Pledges

  Significantly increasing Black, Latino and other underrepresented workers means not just bringing in new people, but keeping those you have. For employers, that’s going to mean addressing burnout in a way they never have before. The pandemic year has been harrowing for all, but especially for minorities, given the  backdrop of disproportionate Covid deaths and the drumbeat of American police killings of unarmed persons of color. Black workers are reporting higher rates of burnout and depression compared with other groups. Bloomberg Equality reports how companies are now battling worker burnout to just  maintain their pledges of diversity.

Like getting the Evening Briefing? Subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and gain expert analysis from exclusive subscriber-only newsletters.

The CIO Exchange—Transforming Government Workspaces: Governments are undergoing a rapid digital transformation. Join us May 25 and hear from state and city chief information officers as they discuss how they’re implementing and using new technology, with details on actual use cases, lessons learned and what’s next. Register here.

Download the Bloomberg app: It’s available for iOS and Android.

Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. Learn more.