| Good morning. Stocks slump, meme momentum, Biden's first military strike. Here's what's moving markets. Stocks SlideU.S. stocks slumped, led by the Nasdaq 100's biggest drop since October, as investors rotated away from lockdown winners and as the benchmark U.S. Treasury yield spiked to a one-year high. The selloff in bonds came as traders pull forward views on how soon the Federal Reserve will be forced to tighten policy as the recovery accelerates, though the fixed income slide eased over night. Shares slumped in Asia, while European and U.S. stock futures are down again on the final trading day of the month. Europe's Stoxx 600 index is up 4% in February. Meme Momentum GameStop won't go away, with the shares continuing their resurgence Thursday, and at one point doubling for a second day straight before retreating with the broader market. Weirdly, the latest move may have been triggered by an activist investor tweeting a picture of a McDonald's cone, with some reading it as indication that he'll attempt to repair the retailer in the same way the fast food chain fixed its dessert machines. Meanwhile, spare a thought for those that bought at the stock's high, even as options markets point to another surge today. And for reference, here's how investors during a previous bubble were affected by their experience. Other Reddit-favorites AMC and Nokia continue to be volatile, too. Biden Strikes SyriaThe U.S. carried out airstrikes in eastern Syria on sites connected to Iran-backed groups believed to be involved in recent attacks in Iraq, the first overt use of military force under President Joe Biden. An F-15 jet fired at a cluster of buildings at a location believed to be a transit point for smuggling militia members, according to a U.S. official. Elsewhere, Biden spoke with Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Thursday for the first time since taking office, ahead of the expected release of a U.S. report that implicates Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in approving the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, according to a person familiar with the findings. Certificates FavoredThe European Union is inching toward establishing bloc-wide vaccine certificates to enable countries to reopen to travel. While there was broad support for certificates of some sort on a video call between leaders Thursday, they didn't agree on the type of privileges they would grant. Meanwhile, Paris is among 20 French regions potentially facing tougher virus restrictions from next week, with the government asking health authorities to closely monitor the situation in the capital and districts including parts of northern France as it seeks to avoid a third nationwide lockdown. Elsewhere, Australia and New Zealand may be showing the rest of the world what a post-pandemic recovery looks like. Coming Up…The U.S. House of Representatives is due to vote on Biden's aid bill, while G-20 finance ministers and central bankers meet virtually. British Airways-parent IAG and chemicals giant BASF are reporting earnings. In the U.S., Airbnb rose after reporting sales that beat estimates, while Beyond Meat gained after announcing a deal to become McDonald's preferred supplier for the patty in the McPlant. Meanwhile, Bill Gates warns that if you've got less money than Elon Musk, be careful with Bitcoin, and fellow billionaire Warren Buffett releases his famed annual letter at the weekend. What We've Been ReadingThis is what's caught our eye over the past 24 hours. And finally, here's what Cormac Mullen is interested in this morningThe much anticipated white swan that is a spike in bond yields finally made its presence felt in markets Thursday with Treasuries slumping and technology shares leading equities lower. The yield spike itself seemed to have more technical than fundamental drivers -- U.S. inflation expectations have fallen for two days straight -- and the price action smacked of stop losses after a poor bond auction. While many investors see yields continuing to push higher as the global economy reopens and growth recovers, others say they are now close to levels that should entice long-term buyers. A more disorderly selloff in bonds or equities could also trigger at least verbal intervention from the Federal Reserve to stop a rout. Indeed the Asian session Friday saw the Reserve Bank of Australia launch an unscheduled bond buying operation that briefly calmed that market. But even before traders need to look for the buyer of last resort in bonds -- the central bankers -- they should be beginning to look attractive to pension funds and other long-term investors. Case in point: the 10-year Treasury yield briefly bested the S&P 500's forward dividend yield for the first time in about a year and a half on Thursday.  Cormac Mullen is a Cross-Asset reporter and editor for Bloomberg News in Tokyo. 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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