Investors are afraid to bet on the winner of the American elections Investors are wondering what to do with shares on the eve of the elections in the United States - the consequences for the market as Biden’s victory, which seems almost obvious and the victory of Trump, which will become a miracle, unpredictable. Funds interviewed by FT made an unexpected decision - not to take any actions related to the elections.

The bitcoin rate on Wednesday, October 21, rose by 8% to the levels of $12,800 per unit of cryptocurrency. The level of July 2019 was reached on the news that the PayPal payment service will allow customers to buy, sell and store cryptocurrency. PayPal announced that in the coming weeks it will make Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin transactions for US account holders directly in a digital wallet.

The Ministry of Finance, in amendments to the second reading of the bill on increasing personal income tax from 13% to 15% for people with incomes over 5 million rubles a year, proposed not to extend it to income from the sale of personal property (with the exception of securities) and insurance payments. The Ministry of Finance considers it fair that the increased tax should not be paid by people with a low level of regular income.

In the capitals around the world, the rental of apartments has become sharply cheaper: distance work and study, the closure of cafes and bars made expensive apartments in the center of London, Sydney and New York unprofitable. In Moscow, the dynamics of prices are completely different. “The lessor is now just stupid not to agree on a decrease in the rent,” said Tim Lawless, head of the research department in the Asia-Pacific region of the analytical company Corelogic.

At a meeting between President Putin and the board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), business asked the president about one thing in fact - not to introduce a new quarantine, writes RBC. The President promised it. During the closed part of the meeting, Alexey Mordashov, the main owner of Severstal, made a report on the socio-economic development of the regions.

The Moody's Agency has retained a negative forecast for the Russian banking system for the next 12-18 months: economic activity will be weak, and the share of “bad” loans will begin to grow again for the first time since 2015. The prognosis of Moody's analysts regarding the prospects of the Russian economy has not improved since August: as then , the agency believes that the real GDP of Russia will be reduced by 5.5%by the results of 2020, and in 2021 it will only be recovered by 2.2%.

Professor of the University of Chicago and HSE, Konstantin Sonin, is one of the most famous Russian economists who has been living and working in the USA for several years. In an interview for the special project of The Bell “who America will choose”, he said what happened to the US economy over four years of Trump in the presidential chair - and why the president’s real influence on this sphere is much more modest than it seems from his Twitter.

Interest among Russians in the US presidential election turned out to be lower than in 2016, according to the results of a September poll by the Levada Center. But their sympathies are more likely on the side of Trump. More than a third of respondents (36%) learned about the US election race from an interviewer, while in October 2016 the share of uninformed respondents was only 9%. Now 11% are closely following the American campaign, compared to 15% in October 2016.

Cars in Russia have risen in price by 3-15% since the beginning of the year, reported Kommersant , citing the calculations of Avilon, one of the country's largest car dealers. Most likely, the trend will continue. Demand in car dealerships remains high, which is associated with buyers' fears about further price increases and the development of the situation with coronavirus.

The European Union may ban meat-free products from being called "burgers" and "sausages". A vote in the European Parliament on this issue is scheduled for Wednesday, October 21. As vegetarian equivalents to "burger" and "sausage", the bill proposes to use the names "disk" and "stick", notes Euronews. European farmers have taken the initiative to ban vegetarian and vegan alternatives from meat products.

The Ministry of Economic Development reported an improvement in the dynamics of Russia's GDP: in the third quarter, the gross product decreased by only 3.8% compared to an 8% drop in the second quarter. Trade (out of 4.2 p.p. made up in the quarter, it accounted for 1.5 p.p.), manufacturing (0.7 p.p.), as well as growth in output in agriculture (0.1 p.p.). The restriction on oil production under the OPEC+ agreement and restrictions on international transportation had a negative impact on GDP.

The new hero of the project "Russian norms!" - General Director of Yandex.Lovka, and before that the publisher of Medusa Ilya Krasovchik. He told Elizabeth Ossetian how Medusa was created and why he left it, which Yandex. Learl wants to become and why an endless stream of bad news is not a reason to escape from Russia. We publish an abbreviated version of the interview.

US authorities are stepping up pressure on Huawei to force the Chinese tech giant out of Latin American markets as well. For refusal to deploy 5G networks using Huawei equipment, Washington promised financial assistance in the amount of up to $1 billion. The amount is specified in a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Brazil, signed, among other things, by a representative of the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM).

Schools are likely to play a very limited role in the spread of coronavirus - a series of research suggests that the quarantine will only prevent their parents from working, and it almost never helps to deal with the spread of infection, writes Financial Times. Special studies in Germany and Norway, as well as two world reviews, allow us to conclude that children are not a mass source of infection Covid-19.

Aeroflot has canceled the fee for ticket exchange on domestic flights, the company said . Previously, it cost 2.6 thousand rubles. Economy class passengers will be able to change tickets purchased from October 16, 2020 to March 25, 2021 inclusive in this way. It is possible to change a ticket, the company writes, if you apply no later than 30 minutes before the departure time of the flight indicated on the issued ticket.