5 things to start your day

[Bloomberg]( Claims data, all eyes on the ECB, and China tech shares plunge. Labor With last week’s [disappointing payrolls number]( helped give some impetus to calls that U.S. stocks [are set to falter](. Investors are fixating on labor market data to assess the [economy’s growth potential](, while [central bank policymakers]( are weighing the [timing of when to taper asset purchases](. Yesterday’s job openings number showed another [record level of vacancies]( in July as employers [struggle to fill positions](. This morning we will get weekly jobless claims figures which are expected to continue trending lower. ECB At 7:45 a.m. Eastern Time the European Central Bank publishes its [latest monetary policy decision](, followed by a press conference with President Christine Lagarde 45 minutes later. Like in the U.S., there is firm focus on the timing of any [slowdown in the pace of asset purchases](. Should the bank signal any coming reduction in buying, Lagarde will probably try to convince markets that this is not the [beginning of the end of accommodative policy]( at the bank. Sponsored Content Professional Venture Portfolios, Built for You Still think venture investing is only for the ultra-wealthy? While traditional VC firms were built for them, [Alumni Ventures was built for individuals like you to provide easy access to professional, diversified venture portfolios. Get into highly competitive deals backed by the “who’s who” of VC firms. Check out Alumni Ventures to learn more.]( Alumni Ventures China problems The crackdown on [China’s tech sector]( continues with industry executives instructed to break their “[solitary focus](” on profits by the country’s regulators. The South China Morning Post reported that there will be a temporary freeze on approvals for new online games, news which [accelerated a stock selloff]( that saw Tencent Holdings Ltd. finish the session [8.5% lower](. Problems also continued for China Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted developer, which saw [as much as 11% lopped of its share price]( as fears about a [debt default rise](. Markets drop The concern among global stock investors about the [outlook for growth]( and some nerves ahead of today’s ECB meeting mean there seems to be few reasons to add risk exposure. Overnight the MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 1% while Japan’s Topix index closed closed 0.7% lower. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was down 0.4% at 5:50 a.m. with [cyclical companies under pressure](. S&P 500 futures pointed to a [move lower at the open](, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 1.326%, oil was [broadly unchanged]( and gold rose. Coming up... U.S. weekly initial jobless claims are at 8:30 a.m. The ECB press conference is also at that time. Latest crude oil inventory numbers are at 11:00 a.m. The U.S. sells $24 billion of 30-year notes at 1:00 p.m. There are 7 regional Fed presidents and governors speaking today. Affirm Holdings Inc. and Dollarama Inc. are among companies reporting results. What we've been reading Here's what caught our eye over the last 24 hours. - Odd Lots: Zoltan Poznar on what’s going on in rates markets right now. - Corporate vaccine policies [show stark divide]( over employer mandates. - There’s something really interesting happening [in the uranium market](. - Copper’s surge is spurring manufacturers to look to [cheaper alternatives](. - Solar startup [born in a garage]( is beating China to cheaper panels. - How to remember Minoru Yamasaki’s [Twin Towers](. - Another [fusion breakthrough](. And finally, here’s what Joe’s interested in this morning The big news yesterday in crypto was Coinbase's revelation [that it would get sued]( by the SEC if it moved ahead with its Lend product, which would allow users to get interest in crypto they deposited. The best take on the news came from my [Bloomberg colleague Matt Levine](, who has a crystal clear explanation for why the SEC sees products such as these as securities even if they don't feel like securities. As Matt notes, if you leave your assets at some entity and then they get lent out, and you earn interest on them, that feels like a bank account. And bank accounts feel pretty different than stocks and bonds. So you can see why people are annoyed. Except as he points out, bank accounts are like bonds in many ways. It's just that they have a specific, legal exemption carving them out from the regulation, so a depositor can get 0.000001% (or something in that ballpark) interest these days on their cash, and regulators don't mind. Coinbase, however, isn't a registered bank, and so it doesn't enjoy that legal carve-out. This is where things get interesting though for the future of crypto and DeFi. One of the big things drawing people into the space is fat yields for seemingly little risk. The yield itself is the killer app. And funnily enough, while the 4% that Coinbase intended to offer is way higher than what you can get in a bank, it's paltry compared to what you can get elsewhere in the DeFi space if you want to go direct. But two questions come to mind about that yield. The first is, how much is simply a matter of regulatory arbitrage? If Coinbase had to face strict banking regulation requirements, what then would it be able to offer? And then furthermore, how much of the yield across the crypto landscape is a function of this huge bull market, and the fact that you can lend a lot of money to traders, when tons of money is rushing in? What happens to those yields when things normalize? There seems to be an assumption that crypto is inherently more efficient, and that by executing lending and other services via smart contract instead of via banker, there's more money left over for the investor or the lender and everybody wins except the old guard on Wall Street. But right now, we still have no idea if that's true. Follow Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal on Twitter at [@TheStalwart]( 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](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Five Things - Americas newsletter. 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