America attacked, again

Follow Us Get the newsletter North America's biggest petroleum pipeline is in a race against time to overcome a cyberattack before regional reserves run dry. Colonial Pipeline said segments of its Texas-to-New Jersey line are being reactivated in steps, and pledged that most service would be restored by the weekend. The issue now is whether inventories held in storage tanks are enough to satisfy demand while Colonial works on resuming operations. The closing of the nation's biggest fuel pipeline system illustrates the risk facing America's infrastructure when it comes to disruption by bad actors, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Monday. "It tells you how utterly vulnerable we are," she said. The success of yet another massive cyberattack raises a question the U.S. has been hearing a lot lately: how can this keep happening? —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  The hack of Colonial is a novel form of cybercrime that puts normally staid corporate entities in the vise of an old-school extortion scheme. And guess which country the White House thinks may have played a part? Technology shares led U.S. stocks lower as surging commodity prices stoked concern about whether inflation will derail the U.S. recovery. But Wall Street was somewhat mollified by last week's poor jobs numbers. "While a full economic recovery may already be priced into the market, the weak employment data could have temporarily eased worries about too-hot inflation and the necessity of interest rate hikes to combat it," said Chris Larkin of E*Trade Financial.  A fast-spreading strain of Covid-19 first identified in India, scene of one of the most fearsome outbreaks and which now includes a deadly fungus, will be classified as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization. "There is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility," said Maria van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead officer on the coronavirus. A study of a limited number of patients also suggested the mutation can evade some key antibodies. In the U.S. on Monday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 12-15-year old children. Here is the latest on the pandemic. German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz pledged to increase taxes on the wealthy, spend on cleaner technology and expand social programs if he were to win the chancellery for the Social Democrats in the fall. Scholz is seeking to bolster his bid to succeed Angela Merkel.  German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz  Photographer: John MacDougall/AFP Qatar froze the assets of six local businessmen as part of a crackdown against high-ranking figures that began last week with the arrest of the Gulf nation's finance minister. Wall Street pros are cleaning up in the amateur-filled $2.4 trillion world of cryptocurrency, and having a good time doing it. Veteran traders are bringing to bear old-school finance tricks to exploit the industry's rampant inefficiencies, volatility and downright weirdness. Says one former Goldman trader: "All the fun that used to be had 30 years ago in the commodity markets and is no longer fun—that fun is now in crypto."  Macy's is proposing a $235 million investment in the area surrounding its Herald Square headquarters in Manhattan as it works to gain approval to build an office tower atop its flagship store. Plans for Macy's proposed development  Source: Macy's Inc. What you'll need to know tomorrow  Bitcoin's waning dominance of crypto has some very worried.  Hedge funds worried over Biden's taxes set up shop on this island. But this $50 billion fund giant is expanding its footprint in Florida. Blackstone is telling its vaccinated workers to return on June 7. Bloomberg Businessweek: How to quit your job after the pandemic. NBC is dropping the Golden Globes over diversity concerns. Sony warns that its PlayStation supply will be tight through 2022. Paid Post The power of PayPal online, now in person. Give your small business an easy way to accept touch-free, in-person payments. Create a unique QR code with the PayPal app and display it on your device or as a printout in store. Download the app.  Customer must have PayPal account and app to pay. PayPal What you'll want to read in Bloomberg Pursuits Do You Have That Bugatti In an Extra Small? Erwin Beerens bought his first Bugatti in 1983. Everything about the car intoxicated him, from the hue of the enamel to the roar of the eight cylinders. Beerens has owned 11 cars from the 112-year-old French brand, including a 1,200-horsepower, $1.1 million Veyron from 2007 and an original Bugatti Type 52. But his latest acquisition is less powerful than the others, and a bit smaller. Yes, we know what you're thinking.  Little Car founder Ben Hedley sits in a $48,500, two-thirds-size Aston Martin DB5 Junior. Photographer: Emli Bendixen  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. See what everyone is talking about. Get the day's top trending stories on social media, delivered to your inbox from Quicktake by Bloomberg. 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. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Evening Briefing newsletter. Unsubscribe | Bloomberg.com | Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022