Accusations fly between China and the U.S., German court gives the ECB a deadline, and reopenings gather pace. Name callingIn the latest chapter of its dispute with the U.S. over the coronavirus outbreak, Chinese state media have rounded on Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, calling him evil and a liar. The outlets, however, did not directly attack President Donald Trump, a tactic which authorities there have used to avoid direct confrontation with him while satisfying their domestic audience. The tensions do mean increasingly distant chances of the "phase one" trade deal reached in January becoming part of a broader truce between the nations. Germany says...The European Central Bank was given a three-month ultimatum by Germany's top court this morning to fix its asset purchases program after judges ruled it is unconstitutional. The 7-to-1 ruling said the purchases aren't backed by European treaties, and ordered that the Bundesbank no longer participate in the program and sell its already substantial holdings should the ECB fail to satisfy the court's demands for an explanation as to how the purchases are proportional. The court said that while the buying does not breach the rules prohibiting monetary financing, the German government should have challenged the March 2015 ECB decision. Getting outCalifornia, the first state to shut down its economy, will start loosening its lockdown on Friday as Governor Gavin Newsom expressed confidence the coronavirus outbreak had reached a peak. In Europe, most economies are taking steps to unwind the curbs introduced to stop the spread of the disease. The evidence of the damage already done is mounting, with unemployment in Spain surging again in April, and U.K. car registrations falling to the lowest since 1946 last month. The OECD is warning that a quick rebound to pre-virus levels of global growth looks unrealistic. Markets riseThe reopening of economies continues to boost sentiment, pushing global equities higher. The jump in oil prices driven by further production cuts is also helping risk appetite. Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan Index added 0.7% overnight, which much of the region still on holiday. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index had risen 1.4% by 5:50 a.m. Eastern Time, holding gains despite a brief wobble in the wake of the German court decision. S&P 500 futures pointed to more green at the open, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 0.675% and gold slipped below $1,700 an ounce. Coming up…U.S. March trade balance data is at 8:30 a.m., with April services and composite PMIs at 9:45 a.m. and ISM non-manufacturing at 10:00 a.m. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard all speak today. Trade talks between the U.K. and the U.S. kick off. In earnings today, Walt Disney Co. is expected to show a severe hit to its performance with theme parks closed and movie releases halted. DuPont de Nemours Inc., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Beyond Meat Inc. and Electronic Arts Inc. are among the many, many other companies announcing results. 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 morningSomething I've been watching and talking about is the changing rhetoric surrounding jobs and job creation. Politicians, of course, always like to talk about how their policies will create employment, but typically those jobs are treated as downstream from the actual policy. So they might talk about their plans for corporate tax cuts or deregulation or a new federally subsidized manufacturing initiative, with the premise that such policies will at some point lead to job creation. What's new is that we have more people talking about the government just spending the money to create jobs directly. Over the weekend, billionaire, TV star, and NBA team owner Mark Cuban tweeted that the federal government should be hiring millions of people right now to do various jobs related to the virus and the crisis, such as contact tracing, sanitation work, and caregivers. He also tweeted about expanding PeaceCorps hiring, and with higher pay. This is significant. Cuban is a media savvy guy who possibly wants to be president one day. The fact that he's talking about the government hiring people now and not something vague like "unleash the creative spirit of Silicon Valley to innovate and create jobs!" is an indication of the way the winds are blowing. Cuban is also a billionaire capitalist. Historically the capitalist class has distrusted full employment schemes, in part because a government hiring workers removes their leverage over labor. And yet here's Cuban saying specifically that increased pay for public sector work would force businesses to pay more and compete. This continues to be an important shift to watch. Bernie Sanders ran on a job guarantee. Republican Senator Josh Hawley has been making a lot of noise about the government subsidizing employment to end this jobs crisis. The PPP (however flawed it is) is all about preserving payrolls. The political discussion is starting to change about how active the government should be in prioritizing employment per se, as opposed to employment just being a happy after effect of other policies that get put into place. This Friday, economists expect that the Non-Farm Payrolls report will show a 16% unemployment rate for the month of April.  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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