Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - A bigger ransomware attack

Technology companies led a rebound in U.S. equities on Thursday after a report showing unemployment applications fell last week to a fresh pandemic low. The latest jobs report comes after mounting concern that faster inflation will prompt authorities to ease back on Covid rescue funding, and criticism from some quarters that financial aid was somehow keeping Americans from looking for work. Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting showed some officials were open to future debate on scaling back bond purchases if the U.S. economy continued to progress rapidly. Here’s your markets wrap. —David E. Rovella

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Here are today’s top stories  

It’s not just Colonial Pipeline that’s paying off hackers. Bloomberg News has learned that CNA Financial, among the largest insurance companies in the U.S., paid $40 million in late March to regain control of its network after a ransomware attack.

It was a busy day in Janet Yellen’s patch. The U.S. Treasury Secretary’s team proposed a 15% global minimum corporate tax as part of international negotiations aimed at ending competition among nations seeking to lure companies through cheap tax rates. “That 15% is a floor,” the Treasury said. “Discussions should continue to be ambitious and push that rate higher.”

The Treasury also said the Biden administration’s proposal to strengthen tax collection, especially among America’s rich who the government says hide half of their income, requires transfers of at least $10,000 of cryptocurrency be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

Which was bad news for an already battered Bitcoin. Crypto markets gave back some of their gains after the Treasury announcement. Bitcoin hovered near $39,400 as investors tried to make sense of the crash Wednesday that wiped away billions of dollars and shattered the notion of crypto as a maturing asset class. 

Banks, especially American ones, have always backed fossil fuel over green projects, choosing profits over slowing a planetary catastrophe. But after pouring trillions of dollars into oil, gas and coal since the Paris Agreement, they may have changed course, and are on pace to commit more financing to climate-friendly projects.

Israel and Hamas agreed to an Egyptian-mediated cease-fire meant to end their 11-day conflict in the Gaza Strip, triggered in part by the threatened eviction of Palestinians from their longtime homes. Hundreds of Palestinians, including scores of children, were killed by Israeli bombing, while about a dozen Israelis and foreign workers were killed by Hamas rockets and mortars.

Barry Diller’s $260 million New York City park has opened. “Little Island” is the result of years of battles among Manhattan’s rich and powerful. The result looks like a cluster of giant white flower buds sprouting from the Hudson River. But the 2.4-acre park itself is actually an undulating platform of grass, trees and winding paths mounted on concrete piles where Pier 54 used to be. 

What you’ll need to know tomorrow 

• The U.S. Federal Reserve is getting serious about digital currencies.
• Morgan Stanley goes all-in on White male executives.
• Taiwan says U.S. vaccine aid may help shield the chip industry.
• Humans have outdone the Ice Age in transforming Earth’s plant life.
• Maybe the atmosphere, too: Hurricane season is going to get ugly.
• Tales from the crypto craze fringe and the would-be billionaires.
• Businessweek: The rush to preserve pandemic-era telemedicine.

Summer Vacation This Year Could Be In Space

Alan Shepard trained for two years to become the first American to go into space in 1961. Sixty years later, a deep-pocketed civilian will journey toward the stars after just a two-day warm-up. Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Jeff Bezos, is auctioning off a seat on its first crewed flight, scheduled for July 20. There have been more than 5,200 bidders from 136 countries, with the highest offer at least $2.8 million, Bloomberg Pursuits reports. After a year of lockdown, and if you have the cash, what better way to take that hard-earned vacation than leaving the planet?

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