President Joe Biden is planning to forgo an expansion of the estate tax in the administration’s coming individual tax-hike proposal, according to people briefed on the plan. Included in the package is a near doubling in the capital-gains rate for the wealthy. The White House decided that move alone was dramatic enough that the estate-tax hike could be excluded. —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 Nomura Holdings suspended a group of senior executives at its investment bank and replaced a top risk official as it reels from billions of dollars of losses on trades with Archegos Capital Management. The European Commission is seeking powers to levy fines or block deals by foreign state-owned companies in a thinly veiled response to the growing economic threat posed by China. Elon Musk said Tesla sold 10% of its Bitcoin holdings to demonstrate the token’s liquidity, while adding that he’s retained his personal investment in the cryptocurrency. Elon Musk Photographer: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images Biden urged Americans hesitant to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to reconsider, pointing to new U.S. guidance that inoculated people can socialize outdoors without masks. “Beginning today, gathering with a group of friends in a park, going for a picnic, as long as you are vaccinated and outdoors, you can do it without a mask,” he said on Tuesday after the announcement by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Here is the latest on the pandemic. The latest killing of an unarmed Black man by American police had multiple employees of a police department in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, shooting a man as he sat in his car with his hands on the wheel, firing into the back of his head, according to witnesses and the victim’s family. Police have refused to release bodycam of the event, triggering protests. “Let’s be clear,” a lawyer for the family of Andrew Brown Jr. said. “This was an execution.” Protestors demonstrate outside of the Pasquotank County Public Safety office for the fourth straight day calling for the release of body cam footage of the police killing of Andrew Brown Jr. in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, on April 24. Photographer: Logan Cyrus/AFP U.S. home prices soared the most in 15 years, with low mortgage rates and a scant inventory of available properties fueling a tight housing market. Here’s where the prices are the highest. Regional banks are struggling to solve the same lending conundrum as their bigger competitors: Despite the economic rebound, loan growth remains hard to find. What you’ll need to know tomorrow The CEO of a $2 billion startup just got fired for taking LSD at work. Remember the 2008 crisis classic “Margin Call”? Wall Street does. Posh French winemakers pounce on a big American vineyard selloff. QuantumScape defends battery breakthrough against short sellers. Bloomberg Digital: Watch how new batteries will change the world. House Democrats and Biden square off over child tax credit. Silicon Valley giant sees profit in the death of the browser cookie.What you’ll want to read in Bloomberg TechnologyBitcoin’s meteoric rise starting in late 2020 has made it increasingly difficult for naysayers to dismiss the highly volatile cryptocurrency out of hand. The biggest players in finance, business and government have long debated whether it’s the currency of the future, whether it’s a currency at all, a risky, unregulated asset, a gift to organized crime, or as Nouriel Roubini put it, “the mother of all bubbles.” See who the bulls are, who the bears are, and how some have changed their tune over the years. 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 Bloomberg Wealth Summit: Join us on May 4 for a virtual event designed to provide private investors, family offices and financial advisers actionable intelligence from economists, money managers and policy professionals. They will shed light on the most vexing questions—and surprising opportunities—facing wealth management in a post-pandemic world. Sponsored by BNY Mellon and Grayscale. 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. |