5 things to start your day

China-U.S. trade talks under threat, France is latest Trump tariff target, and another retail record. Worth waiting for? President Donald Trump suggested that he would be happy to wait until after the 2020 election to do a trade deal with China, adding that Beijing wants one now. Stocks futures fell after his comments. In further signs of increasing tensions between the two nations, Chinese state media said the government would soon publish a list of "unreliable entities" which could lead to sanctions against U.S. companies. The next round of tariffs on Chinese goods is due to kick in on Dec. 15, and investors are starting to become concerned that market consensus of a delay in implementation may be proven wrong.  This again  France said the European Union would retaliate if the U.S. follows through on a threat to unleash tariffs on $2.4 billion of exports. The office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced the move yesterday in response to the imposition of a 3% "digital tax" by Emmanuel Macron's administration. The levies are due to come into force in early 2020. Both Trump and Macron are in London today for the 70th anniversary of the NATO alliance, with the U.S. president already taking the opportunity to criticize the French tax.  Sponsor Content by PIMCO U.K. Elections: What's Next for Economy and Markets? The U.K. is set to head to the polls on December 12. Here are our key takeaways for the economy and markets. Read more.   Cyber sales E-commerce platforms such as Amazon.com Inc. were the biggest beneficiaries from yesterday's record-setting Cyber Monday sales that saw spending jump 17% from a year ago, according to Adobe Inc. The strong performance yesterday comes on the back of record online sales on Black Friday as consumers continue to increasingly move away from brick-and-mortar stores.   Markets mixed President Trump's comments on the timing of a trade deal are pushing stocks lower. Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.4% while Japan's Topix index, which had closed before Trump spoke on trade, ended the session 0.5% lower. In Europe the Stoxx 600 Index was flat at 6:27 a.m. Eastern Time. S&P 500 futures were firmly in the red, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 1.793% and gold higher. Coming up… The main event to keep an eye on this morning is the NATO meeting in London, where the U.S. president is already making headlines with comments on trade and France. U.S. auto sales data for November is published later. Salesforce.com Inc. and Workday Inc. are among companies reporting earnings.  What we've been reading This is what's caught our eye over the last 24 hours. Europe set to overhaul its entire economy in green-deal push. Hope fading fast for a fourth-quarter earnings rebound in S&P 500. Global bank job cuts this year push past 70,000 mark.  Top Chinese economists spar over how slow the economy should go.  These are the world's most popular city destinations in 2019. China's schoolchildren are now the smartest in the world.  The Apostrophe Protection Society shuts down because "ignorance and laziness" have won. And finally, here's what Joe's interested in this morning These days everyone (including me) is talking about the eventual hand-off from monetary to fiscal policy, as rates go lower and lower with seemingly little growth to show for it. But when and where it will actually happen is still to be determined. The thing with fiscal stimulus is that it's not enough to say it's justified, necessary or doable, a country also needs the political capacity to make it happen. So, for example, in a politically divided country (such as the U.S.) opposition parties are usually going to oppose it. It seems there's a growing view that the U.K. may be the first out of the gate. In an interview this morning on Bloomberg TV, Saxo Bank CIO Steen Jakobsen said that he expects a Boris Johnson government to unleash the biggest fiscal expansion since the 1970s and enough growth to heal deep divisions in the U.K. Meanwhile just yesterday Steve Englander of Standard Chartered wrote that Britain is the most likely G10 country to turn to fiscal stimulus to cushion the economic impact of Brexit. In other words, between the mediocre economy, and a possible (though anything can happen) Conservative majority, the conditions just might be in place to crank up the spending. While the ongoing U.K. political drama is probably annoying to some, it will at least produce numerous interesting real-life economic experiments for people to analyze for years to come. So at least there's that. 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. FOLLOW US SEND TO A FRIEND You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Five Things newsletter. Unsubscribe | Bloomberg.com | Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022