5 things to start your day

[Bloomberg Markets]( [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]([Twitter Share]( [SUBSCRIBE [Subscribe]](  Forward Guidance  Flynn's lawyers stop talking to Trump's, retailers are optimistic about Black Friday, and Germany is still strong and stable. No comment Lawyers acting for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn have [stopped sharing information]( with President Donald Trump’s legal team about the special counsel’s investigation into Russian election interference. The move may signal that Flynn is in discussions with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the probe into ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Meanwhile, Trump used his Thanksgiving address to troops to credit his [policies]( for military gains in Afghanistan. Black Friday U.S. retailers are [unusually optimistic]( going into this year’s holiday shopping season. With the National Retail Federation predicting that 69 percent of Americans will shop online or at stores over the Thanksgiving weekend, brick-and-mortar shops are looking to build on the momentum from a [generally positive]( earnings season. Although Black Friday is not just a U.S. phenomenon these days, the retailer optimism hasn’t spread to the U.K., where an already difficult year is unlikely to end with a boost for the [embattled sector](. Euroboom The political crisis that followed the collapse of government coalition talks in Germany seems to have passed as the biggest opposition party said it is open to talks on [backing]( an administration led by Angela Merkel. Meanwhile, recent data underscore how German growth is going from strength to strength, with confidence at a [new record high](. Yesterday’s GDP print suggests the economy is on course for its [best annual performance]( in six years. Markets quiet Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.1 percent, with Japan’s Topix index closing 0.2 percent higher as [Thursday’s plunge]( in Chinese equities failed to cause a lasting reversal in sentiment. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was 0.1 percent higher at 5:40 a.m. Eastern Time in a quiet session. S&P 500 futures were [0.1 percent higher]( ahead of today’s shortened trading day, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 2.345 percent, and gold was flat. OPEC king Russian leader Vladimir Putin has emerged as the most important player ahead of next week’s [OPEC talks]( on extending oil production cuts. Russia, not a member of the oil-producer group, has become the voice that the market listens to after Putin [successfully engineered]( Moscow’s agreement last year with OPEC on output reductions. This morning, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate for January delivery was [trading at $58.58](, with the spread to Brent crude narrowing to the tightest since September. Here's what you should read today - Odd Lots: Why historic market relationships have been [totally upended](. - [The math]( behind Mark Cuban’s Trump tweet. - Now you can invest in bitcoin [without the volatility](, apparently. - Central banks are right when they say [nobody understands them](. - VW’s on a [cobalt hunt](. - This is [what happens]( when you ask politicians to stop tweeting. - A new conundrum in the [bond market](?  And finally, here’s what Sid’s interested in this morning I was waxing lyrical with a fixed-income analyst recently and we bonded over a key lesson this year: lowflation and low price volatility might be bigger drivers of asset bubbles than monetary policy per se. After all, the present value of future cash flows gets discounted the more uncertain the outlook for inflation and growth. As such, [economic stability]( has added a huge amount of [juice to the market rally](-- a dynamic strategists largely expect will continue even if central banks marginally tighten. So here's a thought: will we get more monetary hipsters arguing that inflation overshoots, steeper yield curves and volatility increases are desirable policy goals to prevent [asset bubbles]( rather than interest-rate hikes? After all, other ways to reduce bubble risks don't sound great either. It's insanely complex to figure out if stricter financial regulation is always a net boost to stability, while hard-money guys still have nothing new to offer. Anyway, the basic link between economic and market volatility remains little understood, it's probably going to continue, so don't be surprised if more people think this meme should factor into policy thinking to a greater degree.   Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Termina Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can't find anywhere else. [Learn more](   You received this message because you are subscribed to the Bloomberg Markets newsletter.   [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022