U.S.- Mexico talks extended as deadline looms, it's ECB day, and Fiat walks away from Renault. Keep talkingPresident Donald Trump said "not nearly enough" progress was made at the first day of talks between Mexico's foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard and White House officials at yesterday's meeting to avert the U.S.'s 5% tariff threat due to kick in Monday. Negotiations are set to continue today, but Trump's comments were enough to help the peso drop more than 1%, a move also driven by credit-ratings downgrades of the country. On another trade front, the president again pushed for concessions from China, reiterating his promise to place tariffs on another $300 billion of imports. ECB dayThe European Central Bank is expected to keep its policy rates unchanged when it announces its decision at 7:45 a.m. Eastern Time, but that does not mean there will be nothing for investors to watch from today's meeting and press conference. There will be updated economic forecasts, which may allow President Mario Draghi to at least signal more monetary support for the euro-area economy. The modalities of the latest long-term loans to banks – TLTRO III – are also expected today, with interest rates on them expected to be as low as the deposit rate at -0.4% Fiat walks awayFiat Chrysler Automobiles NV abruptly withdrew its offer to combine with Renault SA, saying the political conditions in France do not exist for a successful deal. The surprise move came after the board of Renault postponed a decision on the deal for a second time. Shares in both companies fell, with Renault tumbling as much as 8% in Paris and Fiat dropping as much as 3.8% in Milan. Markets mixedOvernight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.2% while Japan's Topix index closed 0.3% lower. Stocks in China ended the holiday-shortened week on a down note. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was 0.6% higher by 5:50 a.m. with consumer staples among the best performers ahead of the ECB meeting. S&P futures pointed to a gain at the open, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 2.105% and gold was higher. Coming up…Weekly initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. will give one last look at the health of the U.S. employment ahead of tomorrow's payrolls data. Also at that time, the April trade balance is published. Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan and New York Fed President John Williams are today's Fed speakers. In earnings, there will be interest when start-up sensation Beyond Meat Inc. reports after the close. What we've been readingThis is what's caught our eye over the last 24 hours. And finally, here's what Joe's interested in this morningIn some sense, President Trump is a populist, who makes overtures about shifting power and wealth away from the elites and back to workers. Rhetorically, he's challenged some of the free-market orthodoxy that has dominated D.C. over the last several decades. However for the most part, he's surrounded himself with fairly mainstream economic thinkers, like Larry Kudlow and Gary Cohn. Meanwhile, a different strand of economics is gaining steam outside the White House. Last month, Marco Rubio put out a paper on how to boost business investment and provide more prosperity to workers. And what's notable is that it did not just offer the standard GOP "tax cuts, deregulation, tax cuts, deregulation" playbook. In fact it cites numerous obscure left-wing thinkers, though it sought to repurpose their ideas into something more conservative. Meanwhile this week, presidential aspirant Elizabeth Warren put out her own plan to boost U.S. industry that won praise from Fox News' Tucker Carlson. A general theme of the U.S. government becoming more active about boosting domestic industry to the benefit of workers runs through both Rubio's and Warren's vision. While Trump himself is awarding the Medal of Freedom to supply-side guru Art Laffer, it's worth watching to see how the intellectual center of gravity in Washington D.C. slowly shifts away from liberal, laissez-faire dogma when it comes to economics. Like Bloomberg's Five Things? Subscribe for unlimited access to trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and gain expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. 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. |
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