Bitcoin’s wild ride

Investors fearful of missing out on the frenzy in digital currencies are being greeted with service outages and delays on some of the largest online exchanges. Almost all of them have had to grapple with periodic performance issues during the more than 10-fold increase in bitcoin. The cryptocurrency topped $10,000 for the first time earlier this week in a runup that drew increased bubble warnings. On Wednesday, it surged past $11,000 before wiping more than $2,000 from its price in five hours.

Theresa May slams Trump for anti-Muslim retweets. The U.K. Prime Minister joined other U.K. and U.S. political figures in rebuking President Donald Trump for retweeting a series of videos posted by the far-right group Britain First. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders defended Trump’s tweets.

Trump’s tax promises undercut by corporate plans to help Wall Street. Major companies including Cisco, Pfizer and Coca-Cola say they’ll turn over most gains from proposed corporate tax cuts to their shareholders, undermining Trump’s pledge that his plan would create jobs and boost wages for the middle class. Meanwhile, a study from Congress’s own think tank found the biggest beneficiaries of cuts in the individual tax rates are in the wealthiest income brackets.

American Airlines accidentally gave too many pilots Christmas off. The carrier is working to resolve a scheduling glitch that caused staffing shortages on thousands of flights during the December holiday rush. The Allied Pilots Association said American is offering pilots 150 percent of their normal hourly wage to pick up some of the flights.

More Americans are worried about their finances. According to a new survey from Willis Towers Watson, people aren’t feeling too secure. Despite record market highs, paltry wage increases and rising debt have U.S. workers on edge, with only 35 percent satisfied with their finances this year. That’s a significant slide from the 48 percent who said things were okay in the 2015 version of the biennial survey.

The end of the U.S. housing shortage is in sight. A new report said sale listings will pick up in the second half of next year, but not before setting a record for consecutive months of decline. Increased inventory will slow price appreciation, especially at higher price points, which is welcome news after new data showed home prices in 20 cities rose in September by the most in more than three years.

A test in the self-driving Chevrolet Bolt is likegoing back to driver’s ed. Bloomberg News’ David Welch writes: “The car does indeed drive itself, but it slavishly obeys traffic rules that I forget even existed. The Bolt is so cautious that it might bore even a conservative driver to tears.”