Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Nuclear missile drills

President Joe Biden said U.S. intelligence has prompted him to believe that Vladimir Putin has decided to attack Ukraine, and that a new invasion including a strike on Kyiv could come within days. “We believe that they will target Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, a city of 2.8 million innocent people,” Biden said Friday from the White House. The U.S. said Russia has massed as many as 190,000 personnel in and around Ukraine, including Russian-backed separatists, in what it called the most significant military mobilization since World War II. Leaders of separatist forces in Ukraine’s east have said they are sending children, women and elderly to Russia, a move NATO allies said may presage a false-flag event to cover a Russian invasion (Moscow has denied planning either action, or a massive cyberattack this week the U.S. contends the Kremlin was behind). The Ukrainian military said the rebels have accelerated shelling along the so-called contact line while the rebels accused the military of attacking them, which Kyiv has denied. In addition to conventional, live-fire exercises with Belarus along Ukraine’s northern border, Vladimir Putin has ordered drills of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces this weekend, including ballistic and cruise-missile launches. Here’s the latest on the crisis. —David E. Rovella

The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled into an ominous “death cross” technical formation Friday morning for the first time since April 2020. “When you hear ‘death cross’ your antenna goes up,” said Jay Woods, chief markets strategist at DriveWealth Institutional. “It doesn’t always mean doom and gloom is coming. It just means we’ll likely be in a more extended downtrend.” Here’s your markets wrap.

Roku shares tumbled Friday, with the streaming-video platform the latest example of a pandemic favorite seeing a precipitous decline.

Hong Kong is now dealing with a bigger Covid-19 crisis than the outbreak in Wuhan that heralded the start of the pandemic, throwing into doubt whether China’s “Covid zero” policy of mass-testing, isolation and quarantine can stamp the virus out on a larger scale. In Europe, German officials warned the country remains in a “vulnerable phase” and that the trend of declining infections could reverse if restrictions are lifted too fast.  Worldwide, confirmed case numbers are decreasing from the peak of the latest wave. Nevertheless, there are still more new infections worldwide—2 million every day—than at the peak of any of the earlier waves. At about 11,000 per day, the number of Covid-19 related deaths matches the peak of last summer’s surge. Here’s the latest on the pandemic.

Residents line up at a Covid-19 testing facility in Hong Kong on Feb. 17. The city is planning a testing blitz for all residents, deploying a tactic used to root out cases on the mainland. Photographer: Louise Delmotte/Bloomberg

As home prices across America skyrocketed in recent years, frustrated buyers started pointing fingers. In places like Phoenix, some complained Californians were distorting the market by carrying fat remote-work salaries across state lines. Others focused on tech firms like Zillow that were buying and flipping homes on a massive scale. But in the end, the root cause of a generation of would-be homebuyers being forced to rent turns out to be the ultimate usual suspect: Private equity.

Republican-controlled states across America have been passing laws that may make it harder for people to vote, laws that civil rights groups and Democrats say are aimed squarely at disenfranchising minorities. The GOP has repeatedly cited the falsehood of widespread voting fraud during the last presidential election as justification. Now, the results are coming in: In Texas, record numbers of absentee ballots and applications are being rejected.

How could you go wrong when you have the backing of the Oracle of Omaha? Andre Street and Eduardo Pontes had the support of Warren Buffett as they aimed to transform how businesses in Brazil handled payments. They became billionaires in their own right before the age of 40. Then they tried lending, and it all went south.

André Street, founder of Stone Pagamentos and Arpex Capital . Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon

A $3 billion project by Blackstone-backed Champlain Hudson Power Express is being touted as a way to deliver clean energy from Canada to New York City. There may be a problem though: a powerful environmental group says the project isn’t clean at all.

• Morgan Stanley’s Wall Street relationships are caught up in U.S. probe.
• Ford wants to spinoff its EV business to get some investor respect.
• Stock-market collapse of Facebook parent Meta keeps getting worse. 
• Trump removed classified files to his house, National Archives says.
• Tesla co-founder Elon Musk deletes his Adolf Hitler tweet.
• Think it’s tough to find a place to buy in New York? Try renting one.
• Angelina Jolie sold winery stake to Russian oligarch. Brad Pitt sued.

Bonuses are bigger than they’ve been in a decade. Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs have bumped up extra cash for dealmakers by 30%, 40% and even 50%. And as employers across the board face a mass exodus as part of the pandemic-inspired “great resignation,” compensation packages are swelling in many other industries as well. So, are you wondering what to do with all that extra money? Bloomberg Pursuits has the answer.

Hana-Maui Resort near Hamoa Beach in Hawaii Photo Illustration: 731 Photo: Courtesy Hana-Maui Resort. Background: Getty Images

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