Early voting across the U.S. continues to break records: In Texas, where the vote count has already surpassed the total turnout in 2016, Democrats see a chance to flip the usually deep red state. President Donald Trump can still win it all, and some voters for former Vice President Joe Biden may actually prefer a U.S. Senate that stays in Republican hands, Ramesh Ponnuru writes in Bloomberg Opinion. Retailers, worried about the potential for election-related unrest, are boarding up stores, but Walmart is putting guns and ammo back on the sales floor. And finally, if you’re stressed out by it all, stop watching the news before bed, and maybe consider taking Nov. 4 off.

What you’ll want to read this weekend

The lockdown selloff is coming for everything, including gold, John Authers writes for Bloomberg Opinion. Even central banks became bullion sellers for the first time in a decade. But after another bitcoin rally, its fans say that this time it’s not a bubble. Really.

After a record 200 days with no local coronavirus cases, Taiwan is the envy of the world, whereas Melbourne, Australia, offers some bleak lessons. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Europe should have acted sooner, while Vladimir Putin concedes Russia’s unproven vaccine isn’t going as well as hoped.

Customers sit at socially distanced tables outside a restaurant in the Carlton suburb of Melbourne, Australia, on Oct 28. 

Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg

Covid-19 is sweeping across rural America, straining regional hospitals and clinics. Meanwhile, mountain towns in the western U.S. are seeing a housing boom as rich buyers seek for open spaces. That trend has led to falling city rents and rising suburban prices.

United Airlines will offer rapid Covid-19 tests on Newark-London flights to spur transatlantic travel. The president of the Four Seasons predicted the luxury hotel chain is halfway through the pandemic. Some cruise companies are recouping value by selling ships as scrap metal.

For a reliable winter-weather cocktail, here are three great ways to make a hot toddy. Or upgrade your s’mores and home-cooked General Tso’s chicken.

What you’ll need to know next week

• The Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election is set to see historic turnout.  
• California votes on gig economy law Proposition 22.
• Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement to take effect.
• The Fed and Bank of England are to make rate decisions.
• Ant Group is scheduled to go public in world’s biggest IPO.

What you’ll want to read in Businessweek

Arrested for Weed at 13, He Sells It Legally at 27

Seun Adedeji was arrested for selling pot at age 13. Now he is a rarity in the $16 billion-a-year U.S. legal marijuana business: a dispensary owner who is a person of color. The 27-year-old Nigerian immigrant with a high school diploma argues Black people deserve access to legal pot’s windfall profits.

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No Playbook—Leading Through Uncertainty: Changes in the workplace have been accelerated by the pandemic and the ongoing U.S. reckoning on race. Join us Nov. 6 for the next Bloomberg Equality briefing as executives from Expensify and sponsor P&G discuss who is creating a blueprint for leading through these tumultuous times. Register here.

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