5 things to start your day

[Bloomberg]( Infrastructure talks hit snags, China selloff spreads and vaccine campaign stalls. Infra snag Senate negotiators blew past another deadline on Monday to craft a bipartisan [infrastructure package]( even as key figures expressed confidence that a deal will eventually get done. Talks continued through Monday night, with transit funding and water projects among the key sticking points. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he would keep the Senate in session through the weekend if necessary as more than 140 business executives [urged]( congressional leaders to move swiftly to pass a bill. Any legislation will [face challenges]( in both chambers, as it's not clear whether any Republicans beyond the 10 involved in the negotiations will vote for it. China rout The rout in Chinese stocks carried over into a second day, as the aftershocks of Beijing's regulatory crackdown [spread]( to bond and currency markets. Technology and education shares slid, with Tencent Holdings Ltd. slumping over 10% and [Meituan falling]( as much as 17%, its biggest decline ever. The selloff was sparked when authorities published new [regulations]( over the weekend related to the education tech sector. Traders said rumors that U.S. funds were offloading Chinese assets exacerbated the move. Meanwhile, it was a rosier picture for tech in the U.S., with Tesla Inc. shares rising in early trading after the electric carmaker reported [better-than-expected]( earnings. Sponsored Content [The highest living penthouse in Europe]( [Penthouse in Federation Tower]( is a unique property for sale in Moscow, Russia. Penthouse located on the 95-97th floors covered with a glass dome. It will be a new starting point for a person who has reached all imaginable heights. Federation Tower is the best complex in the world. [Worthy of your status.]( Sotheby's International Realty Reality check The U.S. vaccine campaign is stalling and will take eight or nine months to reach 75% coverage. Around the world, countries are getting [outwitted]( by new virus strains -- creating the danger that this year’s V-shaped [rebound]( mutates into a W shape. In Europe, there was some good news with a [sustained fall]( in new cases in the U.K. though there’s no consensus on what’s behind it, or whether the current wave of infections has peaked. Meanwhile, the European Union has achieved its target to protect 70% of adults with at least one vaccination by July. Singapore said it’s aiming to start allowing [quarantine-free travel]( in September, even as it struggles to control an outbreak of the delta variant. Markets drop Global equities are struggling as the rout in China and Hong Kong spurs a cautious mood. Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 1.1% while Japan’s Topix index rose 0.6%. In Europe the Stoxx 600 Index had fallen 0.7% by 5:28 a.m. Eastern Time. S&P 500 [futures]( pointed to red at the open, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 1.24%, and the yen rose with the dollar. [Bitcoin]( traded near $37,000 after briefly rising above $40,000 overnight. Coming up... As the Federal Reserve kicks off its two-day meeting, we get preliminary durable goods orders data for June at 8:30 a.m. ET and the FHFA house price index at 9:00 a.m. It's a big day for tech earnings, with Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc. all reporting after the bell. What we've been reading Here's what caught our eye over the last 24 hours. - China doesn’t care how much money [you lose](. - Goldman's asset-management arm files for [crypto-related]( ETF. - HBO Max frustrates subscribers with [glitchy]( streaming tech. - Humanity is caught in a [doom loop](. - The [remote-work]( czar is the new shortcut to the C-suite. - Philippines’ first-ever [gold medalist]( wins $660,000 and a house. - Putting the world’s [slums]( on the map. - You won’t believe how this [beetle]( walks on water. And finally, here’s what Joe's interested in this morning There are a lot of different theories for what's keeping inflation elevated these days, how long it will last, what policies caused it, whether it will all be "transitory," and what transitory actually means. Everyone has something to say on it. Priors and biases are being confirmed all over the place. But one thing that seems to be true is that a lot of it just keeps coming back to shipping containers. Here's the chart of an index measuring the cost to ship goods in a 40-foot box from Shanghai to Los Angeles. Just explosive. [We have an episode of the Odd Lots podcast coming out Thursday]( with an executive at a company that makes bathroom and plumbing equipment (bathtubs, faucets, etc.) and the strains caused by shipping were the very first thing he mentioned, as to why prices are going up and supply is tight. [On the episode that came out yesterday](, our guest (an executive at the logistics firm GXO) said the strain won't ease until there's more of a shift toward services consumption and people start flying more (so that there's more commercial air cargo capacity to ease the strain). The cost of moving things in boxes around the world comes up over and over again in conversations. So it's a matter of supply and demand eventually doing its thing, and bringing the market into balance. Which should happen. At least it's happening elsewhere in the economy. [Matt Klein has a good piece]( up at his new newsletter arguing that we're already seeing the "surge pricing" phase of the U.S. housing market come to an end, with home construction on the rise, and demand starting to abate. [Other analysts]( also see signs of the housing market starting to cool (at the margins). We know what's happened in lumber of course. [Even trucking rates]( might be taking a little pause? In the meantime, with goods, just keep an eye on that shipping index to see when or if it starts to turn. 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. Follow Us Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. 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