| Wall Street faces Congress, cryptos rebound, and Biden urged to make changes at the Fed. CEOs Wall Street's biggest banks had a blockbuster last quarter, and their bosses will face Congress today to explain why they haven't done more to help struggling Americans. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s David Solomon, Bank of America Corp.'s Brian Moynihan, Morgan Stanley's James Gorman, Wells Fargo & Co.'s Charles Scharf, JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Jamie Dimon and Citigroup Inc.'s Jane Fraser will all appear by video in front of a Democrat-controlled panel. They're likely to face questions on inequality and the rising wealth gap. Senator Elizabeth Warren predicted the grilling would be "fun" for the lawmakers. Rebound The volatility in cryptocurrencies continues, with Bitcoin topping $40,000 and Ether above $2,800. The Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index jumped as much as 13%. The regulatory crackdown on Bitcoin mining rolls on, with China's push to rein in the practice reportedly triggered by a surge in illegal coal extraction. Iran has banned crypto mining ahead of summer peak electricity demand. At the same time, there doesn't seem to be an obvious catalyst for this morning's move higher. Terms Federal Reserve vice chairs Randal Quarles and Richard Clarida have only months left on their terms and President Joe Biden is being urged to replace them. Democrats such as Senator Warren have made no secret of their disapproval of Quarles' role as bank supervisor. While Fed Chair Jerome Powell's term ends early next year, three quarters of economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect him to be reappointed. Markets mixedMarkets are fairly quiet this morning and there has been little so far to move the dial on sentiment. Overnight the MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.3% while Japan's Topix index closed broadly unchanged. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was flat at 5:50 a.m. Eastern Time with banks the major underperforming industry sector. S&P 500 futures pointed to a small move higher at the open, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 1.571%, oil was close to $66 a barrel and gold was above $1,900 an ounce. Coming up... Quarles is the only Fed speaker today, but he makes up for that by appearing twice. U.S. oil inventories data is at 10:30 a.m. The U.S. is selling $61 billion of 5-year notes at 1:00 p.m. Nvidia Corp., Snowflake Inc., Workday Inc., Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. and Abercrombie & Fitch Co. are among the many companies reporting today. What we've been readingHere's what caught our eye over the last 24 hours. And finally, here's what Joe's interested in this morningOn a recent episode of the podcast, Tracy Alloway and I talked to UWE Bristol professor Daniela Gabor on her criticism of private sector ESG initiatives. Reading back through the transcript, this comment really stood out right at the top: So I would say that my interest in ESG comes from observing the broader political context in which ESG investment as a reason in which this wall of ESG funds that you just described has sort of come about. To describe the political context I would like to start with a quote from a private equity lobbyist that was discussing the Biden infrastructure plan. And he said something along the lines of this is a very traditional government in spending on infrastructure plan. It's like an old funded-through-the-government approach. And what we were expecting was Biden to put private finance in the driving seat, to partner with private finance through private public private partnerships (PPP), and to tap into the huge pools of capital, particularly ESG capital, standing by and looking for sort of sustainable investments in sustainable projects.
Now obviously this administration is no MMT administration. They want to "pay for" spending through more taxes. But the point is, regardless, much of this administration's vision seems to be built around government investment and government programs, rather than private sector money and private-public partnerships. I write a lot about the big shifts in economic thinking. From the shift in monetary policy dominance to more reliance on fiscal policy. From the idea that markets are always best suited to solve problems to the idea that government investment can pay huge dividends. (The view's gained more support thanks to the speed of the vaccine program last year.) You also see it in the government's re-engagement on semiconductor policy and other such areas. When it comes to climate, you hear a lot about a Green New Deal, even though a lot of people have different ideas about what that means or what theoretically would be in one. But the through-line of all this is the idea of democratic action. That instead of climate being a private-public endeavor, it's largely a public endeavor. The big theme in economics these days seems to be democracy. Less trust towards shielded institutions (the central bank etc.) and more direction from elected officials in terms of how the economy should be shaped and where money should be deployed. 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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