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Good morning. Britain's political landscape shifts, U.S. energy infrastructure is hacked, and signs are pointing to a summer we can enjoy despite Covid. Here's what's moving markets.

British Reshuffle

While Scottish nationalists failed to win an outright majority in the country's devolved parliament over the weekend, backing from the pro-independence Green party will enable it to push for a second referendum for independence. Meanwhile, a weak showing for Labour in English council elections and the loss of yet another long-held parliament seat in England's North has sparked a reshuffle within the party. Leader Keir Starmer named ally Rachel Reeves as Shadow Chancellor, demoting Anneliese Doods to party chair, while creating a new shadow cabinet position for previous party chair Angela Rayner. 

Pipeline Hack

Crude oil and gasoline rose at the start of the week after a cyberattack put the largest oil-products pipeline in the U.S. out of action. Colonial Pipeline, a supplier of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to the eastern U.S., was forced to halt operations on late Friday, and said Sunday that it is still working toward a restart of operations along the key artery. A rush for replacement fuels could emerge on the East Coast, leading traders to source cargoes from Europe or even Asia. In a reflection of the incident's gravity, the White House has formed a task force to probe the pipeline breach.

Dwindling Deaths

Only two deaths from Covid-19 were reported in the U.K. on Sunday, with the nation now having fully vaccinated a third of its adult population. Two-thirds have received at least one dose. Western Europe's front-runner in jabs also set a course toward quarantine-free travel this summer, permitting trips to a ``green list'' of countries including Israel and Portugal from May 17, while bringing back museums, cinemas, and hugs. Germany and France, both still logging triple-digit fatalities every day, are taking it slower, though Germany's health minister said on Saturday that summer holidays within Europe will probably be possible even for the un-vaccinated. 

About Saturday Night

Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency conceived as a joke but now the world's fifth-most valuable, plunged from an all-time high after its most famous cheerleader, Elon Musk, jokingly called it "a hustle" on late-night TV. The billionaire's appearance in ``Saturday Night Live'' was widely anticipated as a potentially market-moving event, after past haphazard tweets and comments roiled Tesla shares and Bitcoin. Investors in the world's most valuable auto stock were spared any bombshell comments this time, as were cryptocurrencies other than Dogecoin.  

Coming Up…

European stocks are set to follow those in Asia higher after the weak U.S. jobs report last week raised expectations for stimulus to continue. Covid vaccine makers are among the earnings to watch today with BioNTech and Novavax both reporting. Also in the U.S., digital games firm Roblox will be among the most closely watched reports, while Marriott's results may give insight into the travel sector's recovery. Iron ore is hot in more ways than one as futures leaped 10% in Singapore amid rampant Chinese demand and a surge in commodities. The EU will start trials of its vaccine certificate system today, ahead of a targeted June rollout. 

What We've Been Reading

This is what's caught our eye over the past 24 hours. 

And finally, here's what Cormac Mullen is interested in this morning

It's back to square one for the dollar. After Friday's worse-than-expected U.S. employment data, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slumped definitively out of its 2021 uptrend and is back to little changed for the year. Posting its biggest one-day fall in five months, the greenback is now at risk of a decline toward its lowest since February 2018. The data miss is the latest blow to the world's reserve currency that saw its brief early-year revival snuffed out by retreating Treasury yields, improving sentiment toward economies outside the U.S. and a dovish Federal Reserve. The dollar's reversal will give a sense of vindication to Wall Street bears who called for a weaker currency in January, but were left scrambling to cover short positions when better-than-expected U.S. data pushed Treasury yields higher. That move has also faded with benchmark yields down about 18 basis points from their 1.77% high in March, denting one of the biggest appeals of the greenback. Selling the U.S. currency is now back in vogue, with aggregate net short positions versus major peers growing to about $10 billion last week from $4 billion in mid-April, according to the latest data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Bearish bets totaled almost $31 billion in January.

Cormac Mullen is a cross-asset reporter and editor for Bloomberg News in Tokyo.

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