China seeks to restart industrial production, Powell speaks in Congress, and primary day arrives in New Hampshire. Getting back to workChinese authorities are calling on the biggest companies to meet production targets as executives begin to restart factories that have been left idle for weeks. President Xi Jinping reportedly has warned officials that measures to contain the coronavirus, which has killed more than 1,000 people in the country, have gone too far and are now threatening the nation's economy. Bloomberg Economics estimates that if the outbreak is successfully contained the impact on growth will be severe but short-lived, with GDP expanding 4.5% in the first quarter before rebounding and stabilizing in the second half of the year. Powell upFederal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will begin two days of testimony to Congress at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time this morning. The bank's semi-annual report to lawmakers said that the coronavirus outbreak presented a "new risk to the outlook" so Powell is almost certain to face question on the Federal Reserve's response to any economic effects in the U.S. One thing Powell is unlikely to do is announce any major policy changes, despite continuing pressure from President Donald Trump. No clarityToday's Democratic primary in New Hampshire will probably produce a victory for Senator Bernie Sanders while not giving any signs of the party coalescing around a single candidate. There are 24 delegate votes at stake today, a small prize compared with the Super Tuesday vote on March 3. The latest national poll shows Sanders leading, overtaking Joe Biden with former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg rising to third place. (Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.) Markets riseThe rally yesterday which saw U.S. indexes close at record highs shows little sign of abating today. The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index climbed 0.9% overnight. Markets in Tokyo were closed for a national holiday. In Europe the Stoxx 600 Index had gained 0.7% by 5:50 a.m. with all 19 sub-indexes of the gauge posting gains. S&P 500 futures pointed to a higher open, the 10-year Treasury yield was 1.592% and oil rose. Coming up…Powell is not the only monetary-policy speaker today. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, Fed Governor Randal Quarles, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari are all scheduled to speak. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney are also both talking later. Lyft Inc. and Hasbro Inc. are among the companies reporting earnings. What we've been readingThis is what's caught our eye over the last 24 hours. And finally, here's what Luke's interested in this morningOnce again, U.S. equities have turned back into what Seinfeld fans might call the Billy Mumphrey market: a story about love, deception, greed, lust, and…unbridled enthusiasm. Case in point: Microsoft. The most recent leg higher -- a roughly 5% so far in February that brings its 12-month gains to 82% -- also has to do with how it's taken the baton from Tesla as the conduit for retail investors to chase get-rich-quick schemes after seeing some of their peers strike gold on derivatives tied to the automaker. Call options appear to be the expression of choice. The five-day sum of activity has jumped by more than 5.5 times since the end of 2019 to its highest level in years. The appeal for speculation isn't hard to understand. They're always going to cost less than the security itself and potential losses are defined at the onset. As Euan Sinclair puts it, they're akin to "a leveraged position in the underlying with limited downside." The company sits at the intersection of two dynamics recently brought up by Mike Green in Odd Lots and Conor Sen in Bloomberg Opinion: its hefty position in many ETFs provides steady, meaningful flows, and it's starting to get some pop-culture appeal, too. The options activity is a microcosm of a broader market trend, where the 10-day ratio of equity puts traded relative to calls has rolled over after a brief move higher amid coronavirus fears. It says something about sentiment that some retail traders (erroneously) believe they have discovered a market loophole whereby philosophically the only limiting constraint on their success is the degree of their own conviction and willingness to act upon it (by buying call options.) It may also say something about this market that nothing about the price action since has served to disabuse them of this notion.  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. | 
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