Congress seeks to shore up postal service, no thaw in U.S.-Sino relations, and a new coronavirus strain is detected.
Going postal
With the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election potentially hinging on a functioning mail service, members of the House are interrupting their summer vacations to draft urgent legislation this week. The bill will mandate the same level of service as was in place on Jan. 1, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter announcing the move. Funding cuts and operational changes to the postal service could make a shambles of the election, Democrats warned, as 46 states were notified last week the mail may not be able to deliver ballots in time for the November vote. President Donald Trump has said repeatedly, without evidence, that voting by mail is subject to widespread fraud. Still not talkingThe U.S. and China postponed talks aimed at reviewing progress at the six-month mark of their phase-one trade agreement, people familiar with the matter said. On Friday, Trump officially ordered the Chinese owner of the popular music video app TikTok to sell its U.S. assets, citing national security grounds. The president has made his tough positions on China a key element of his re-election platform, with China hawks in his administration seeking to re-balance decades of Sino-American relations. Virus updateCoronavirus is fighting back efforts to control it with a new strain found by researchers in Malaysia whose mutation could make it more infectious. The mutation has become the predominant variant in Europe and the U.S., though the World Health Organization says there's no evidence the strain leads to a more severe disease. France's public health agency warned that all of the country's Covid-19 indicators are trending upward. Italy and Spain ordered nightclubs to close again, while Italy also mandated the wearing of masks wherever social distancing can't be ensured during the day. In New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will delay the country's election by four weeks amid a renewed flare-up of the disease. Australia suffered its deadliest day since the start of the pandemic. Markets mixedStocks continue to fluctuate in light trading as investors weigh lockdown measures and U.S.-China relations. Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index was slightly lower with Japan's Topix index closing 0.8% in the red. In Europe the Stoxx 600 Index was up 0.3% as of 5:31 a.m. Eastern time. S&P 500 futures pointed to a higher open, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 0.695% and gold was up. Coming up...A quiet day for data sees Empire Manufacturing published at 8:30 a.m., with Treasury International Capital Flows at 4:00 p.m. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic discusses inclusive innovation at a Q&A event later. Treasury is issuing more than $100 billion in bills. The Democratic National Convention starts. What we've been readingThis is what's caught our eye over the last 24 hours. - Oil companies wonder if it's worth looking for oil.
- Worst heat in 70 years threatens California's grid.
- India's bond market is so hot even a yoga guru is selling debt.
- Vaccine rush leaves little recourse for anyone it harms.
- China's bank regulator warns dollar dominance is seed of crisis.
- China traders ready for stock limits to double next week.
- Black dwarf supernovae might be the last event in the universe.
And finally, here's what Joe's interested in this morningI was on vacation last week, but unfortunately I wasn't able to completely tear myself away from looking at screens and occasionally checking out charts. While looking at Bitcoin, one thing really surprised me, which is how similar its action looked to gold. Here's a 20-day chart of the two. It's a little bit weird looking because Bitcoin trades all through the weekend and gold doesn't, but it's plainly obvious how their intraday action often looks quite similar.  To me, this implies a growing and surprising level of institutional trading in Bitcoin... that it has a big enough role in enough portfolios such that whatever macro and market inputs are pushing the price of gold around also are pushing Bitcoin around. When Bitcoin crashed in the middle of March, it made sense that with the incredible evaporation of liquidity, everything got hit. But it's still surprising to see this kind of relationship hold up even on a tick-by-tick or minute-by-minute basis. We know that one of the big drivers of gold this year (or maybe the only driver) has been the incredible plunge in real interest rates. Perhaps that also explains a lot of the action in Bitcoin (and other crypto assets) as well. Joe Weisenthal is an editor at Bloomberg 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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