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Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( Trouble for tech, bond yields won't be quelled, and Americans eye return to normal life in July. Tech dust-up China's tech moguls are facing a backlash at home and abroad. Tencent Holdings Ltd. has become the [next target]( in a crackdown by Chinese authorities that began with Jack Maâs Ant Group Co., according to people with knowledge of the nation's top financial regulators. The conglomerate was dealt an antitrust fine that marks the beginning of a campaign of tougher regulation, the people said. Meanwhile, the U.S. tightened restrictions on selling 5G-related goods to Huawei Technologies Co., explicitly [banning]( export of components like semiconductors, antennas and batteries. The news sent futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq down more than 1% before the open. Bond moves Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields surged as much as eight basis points to breach the key technical level of 1.6% Friday, reminding investors that bond volatility has become the companion of go-big fiscal stimulus. Bets that extra government spending could overheat the economy were out in full force after U.S. President Joe Biden [signed off]( on $1.9 trillion of stimulus. Meanwhile, European yields are lagging the move higher in Treasuries, prompting strategists to bet on [greater divergence](, unless the Fed does anything to change it. Most European Central Bank policy makers have no intention of expanding their 1.85 trillion-euro ($2.2 trillion) emergency stimulus program despite their pledge on Thursday to step up the pace of[bond buying]( to keep yields in check, according to officials familiar with the matter. Paid Post The Next Generation of FinTech
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While paying for goods and services with a smartphone is FinTechâs most recognizable use, its potential extends far beyond point-of-sale transactions. The emergence of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services and digital wallets for cryptocurrencies are just two examples of [how FinTech is becoming more enmeshed]( in the financial system. [Global X ETFs]( Fireworks and fear Biden is aiming to inoculate enough Americans that normal life begins to return by the summer while families and friends can get together for [July 4 fireworks](. Meanwhile, in Europe, the [vaccine shortage]( persists. AstraZeneca Plc will supply less than half the planned number of shots to the European Union in the second quarter, with protectionism among nations [thwarting]( efforts to even out distribution. Safety concerns over AstraZeneca Plcâs treatment have also led nine countries to suspend its use. Europe's stuttering vaccine rollout risks falling farther behind the U.K. and U.S., prolonging human and economic misery. Markets mixed Rising bond yields are unnerving global equity investors, triggering fresh losses among tech stocks. Overnight the MSCI Asia Pacific Index ended flat, the Hang Seng Index fell 2.2% and Japan's Topix rose 1.4%. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was 0.5% lower at 5:32 a.m. Eastern Time with the region's tech stocks declining the most. S&P 500 futures pointed to a [lower open](, with Nasdaq 100 futures dropping more than 1%. Coming up... The producer price index for February is due at 8:30 a.m., with the report expected to show that price pressures decelerated. Canadian unemployment numbers are also due at that time. University of Michigan sentiment figures for March are due at 10:00 a.m. The Baker Hughes rig count is at 1:00 p.m. What we've been reading This is what's caught our eye over the weekend. - Vladimir Putin takes on [Twitter](. - Lex Greensill's [downfall]( is a familiar story. - Epsteinâs NYC mansion [is sold]( for $51 million for victims fund.
- Microsoft shuts down source of [new cyberbreach]( after hack.
- If 60/40 recipe sours, try [adding Bitcoin](. - French populist Le Pen plans [new election run](. And finally, hereâs what Katie's interested in this morning The latest acronym on Wall Streetâs mind is SLR: the [supplementary leverage ratio](. In normal times, SLR required U.S. banks to hold a minimum level of capital against their assets as a buffer against losses. However, the Federal Reserve exempted Treasuries and deposits at the central bank from those requirements roughly a year ago. Banks took advantage, with balance sheets ballooning by as much as [$600 billion]( as a result of the regulatory relief. Now, the SLR redemption is set to expire on March 31, and no oneâs quite sure what to make of it. BMO Capital Markets strategist Dan Krieter estimates that letting the relief lapse could force a bout of Treasuries selling, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Financial Officer Jennifer A. Piepszak warned last month that banks may have to âturn away depositsâ in that event. Others, like Bank of America U.S. interest rates strategy head Mark Cabana, are more sanguine: while the market has âassigned almost mythical powersâ to the SLR exemption, in reality, banksâ share of the demand for Treasuries is âvery marginal.â In any case, jitters around whether relief would be extended were one of the main factors blamed for last monthâs sloppy 7-year note auction, which by some measures, saw the lowest demand on record. Zoltan Pozsar, a strategist at Credit Suisse, broke down that mindset in a recent episode of the [Odd Lots]( podcast: "So when you look at an auction that goes bad, a large part is basically because a bank portfolio doesnât show up, because a bank portfolio doesnât know whatâs going to happen to this SLR exemption. Management is getting the balance sheet ready for stock buybacks. If you want to buy back stocks and SLR exemption does not happen, then you will be throwing balance sheet capacity away to basically carry liquid assets."
 Given that disaster of a 7-year sale, the stakes were sky-high heading into this week, with the Treasury Department scheduled to auction off $120 billion between 3-, 10- and 30-year securities. The auctions went fairly smoothly -- only the 30-year sale produced a small tail -- reigniting a rally in tech stocks, which had buckled in previous weeks under the weight of rising rates. However, a couple of OK auctions donât mean weâre out of the woods yet, cautions Priya Misra of TD Securities. âThose concerns move higher every day we get closer to March 31 without a Fed announcement,â said Misra, the firmâs head of global rates strategy, who noted that banks donât tend to buy the 10- and 30-year tenors. âIn a world where the Fed might taper late this year and the President is talking about another stimulus package, who is the marginal buyer of Treasuries and at what price?â Fed policymakers have largely been mum about their plans -- and probably for good reason. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown said in a letter to U.S. regulators this month that extending relief to banks would be a â[ grave error](.â As my Bloomberg Opinion colleague Brian Chappatta notes, this puts the Fed in a [somewhat impossible]( position -- the central bank can renew the exemption and appear beholden to the banks, or let it lapse and risk destabilizing the $21 trillion Treasury market. In any case, the clock is ticking. Follow Bloomberg's Katie Greifeld on Twitter at [@kgreifeld]( Something new we think youâd like: Weâre launching a newsletter about the future of cars, written by Bloomberg reporters around the world. [Be one of the first to sign up]( to get it in your inbox soon.  Before itâs here, itâs on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals canât find anywhere else. [Learn more](. Â
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