| Covid deaths rise again, jobless claims data due, and it's decision day at the ECB. Not talking yet Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have yet to engage in direct negotiations over the make-up of a new fiscal stimulus bill. While the $916 billion package favored by McConnell and the $908 billion bipartisan plan seen as the way forward by Pelosi is pretty similar on top-line spending, significant differences remain over the bill's contents, with time running short. Meanwhile, the pandemic continues to exact a high toll in the U.S.. Daily deaths passed 3,000 for the first time yesterday, with more than 221,000 news infections reported. Claims, inflation Today's initial jobless claims number at 8:30 a.m. will give some indication whether last week's larger-than-expected drop in the number of claimants was the start of a positive trend, or just an anomaly caused by the Thanksgiving holiday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg seem to be in the second camp, with the median expectation for the number to rise to 725,000 today. Also at 8:30 a.m., inflation data for November is released, with the annual rates of both headline and core inflation expected to have slowed slightly as an economic recovery remains some way off. More easing The European Central Bank is poised to deliver another round of monetary stimulus when it announces its latest decision at 7:45 a.m. this morning. Policy makers are expected to add 500 billion euros ($605 billion) to their emergency bond-buying program that may be extended to the end of next year. There may also be another round of ultra-cheap loans to banks. Economists forecast no change in interest rates, and will tune into the press conference with President Christine Lagarde at 8:30 a.m. to hear the bank's latest economic projections. Markets quietWith stimulus talks in the U.S. making little progress, and the ECB decision and economic data to come, markets are not doing very much yet. Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.4% while Japan's Topix index closed 0.1% lower. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was less than 0.1% higher at 5:50 a.m., with tech stocks the biggest losers as they tracked their U.S. peers lower after Facebook Inc. was sued by antitrust officials. S&P 500 futures pointed to a small gain at the open, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 0.925% and gold slipped. Coming up...The U.S. Food and Drug Administration could clear the Pfizer Inc.- BioNTech SE vaccine for emergency use after the meeting of outside advisors today. Airbnb Inc. makes its trading debut today, and while it is unlikely to surpass DoorDash Inc.'s 92% first-day pop, it priced the IPO above the marketed range at $68 a share. The U.S. WASDE report is at 12:00 p.m., with the November monthly budget statement at 2:00 p.m. Adobe Inc., Oracle Corp., Broadcom Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. are among the companies reporting 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 morningThere was an interesting piece at Business Insider by Alex Yablon last weekend, talking about the growing phenomenon of Wall Streeters sounding left wing in their analysis. There are a number of facets, but basically the idea is that you hear more people in finance adopting MMT-like frameworks for their analysis of the economy. This is in contrast to the historic stereotype of Wall Street as a bastion of libertarian, free market ideology. This phenomenon may seem odd or contradictory, but it's really not.
An implicit premise of many laissez-faire thinkers is that the economy is basically a barter economy: People get together in some "market", and butchers and bakers trade with each other so they both have a complete meal for dinner. And therefore the best approach to economic regulation is to be as hands-off as possible, so that everyone can trade in an optimal manner, having the best dinner possible.
On the flipside, MMT and related schools of thought put money and balance sheets right at the center of their analysis. In their view, the economy isn't filled with butchers and bakers necessarily. It's filled with people who have bills to pay and cash-flow needs, who may take a job as a butcher or baker in order to meet their monetary obligations. Go read a Nathan Tankus blog post, and it's filled with accounting. Two of the most famous left-wing books ever have capital in the name.
Wall Street is a business of people trading claims on future cash flows in the form of stocks, bonds and other instruments. And everyone's trying to accumulate more of those claims over time. You don't have to be a socialist to see how modes of analysis that focus on money -- as opposed to just seeing money as a simple means to facilitate barter -- have a natural home in the finance profession. 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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