5 Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day: Americas

Good morning. Zoom is the standout mover in an otherwise steady start for US markets, while Japan had a big day. The dollar and Bitcoin are [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Good morning. Zoom is the standout mover in an otherwise steady start for US markets, while Japan had a big day. The dollar and Bitcoin are emerging as the year’s big winners and Shein is considering a London IPO. Here’s what people are talking about. — [Sofia Horta e Costa]( Markets latest S&P 500 futures are flat and US government bond yields are slightly lower ahead of the Treasury’s $42 billion sale of 7-year notes. Zoom shares are surging in early New York trading after the company’s [quarterly sales and profit topped estimates](. A new $1.5 billion share buyback is also helping sentiment, suggesting the firm — which operates the ubiquitous videoconferencing platform — is prioritizing shareholder returns over large acquisitions for now. Over in Asia, the big focus was Japan, where the two-year bond yield [climbed to the highest since 2011]( after stronger-than-expected inflation boosted bets that the country’s [long era of negative interest rates]( could end as early as March. Here’s today’s must-read fact: for the first time in over two decades, it’s cheaper for blue-chip companies in the US [to sell shares than to borrow debt](. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said problems in commercial real estate will be contained to “pockets” of the sector — as long as the US avoids a recession. Do you agree, or do you consider it a risk for US banks or broader financial system? Fill out Bloomberg's latest MLIV Pulse [survey](. Supreme dollar The greenback is riding a wave of [US exceptionalism]( in financial markets. It’s just [shy of the record]( it reached during the pandemic and, when measured against the currencies of America’s largest trading partners, the dollar is a punchy 17% above its average over the past two decades. What gives? Unrelenting flows into US risk assets, economic resilience in the country and the lessened prospect of imminent interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. And a recession is no longer a given: economists surveyed by Bloomberg have marked up their forecast for 2024 US growth to 2.1% and [lowered the odds of a coming recession to 40%](. Bitcoin outshines Bitcoin [surpassed]( $57,000 for the first time since late 2021. New US-listed ETFs launched in mid-January have helped drive the rally in recent weeks, with more than $6 billion pouring into the tracker funds already. And MicroStrategy, a firm that buys Bitcoin as part of its regular trading, is purchasing so many tokens it now owns about $10 billion in Bitcoin. The combined value of digital assets now stands at roughly $2.2 trillion, says [CoinGecko](, compared with a low of about $820 billion during the bear market of 2022 — when FTX and other platforms collapsed. Shein swerves Fast-fashion company Shein, founded in China but now headquartered in Singapore, is [shopping for alternative listing venues]( should it struggle to IPO in New York. There’s been plenty of resistance from US lawmakers: Senator Marco Rubio was among those asking the SEC to block its listing and a member of US Congress last year asked for a probe into Shein’s cotton supply from Xinjiang. One of Shein’s potential homes could be London, my colleagues [Pei Li](, [Dong Cao](, and [Vinicy Chan]( report, which would be a big win for the UK as it has struggled to attract high-profile listings from even homegrown firms like chipmaker Arm. Coming up… Data today includes the US Conference Board’s consumer confidence index for February, as well as the preliminary print for last month’s durable goods orders. There’s data due on home prices across 20 US cities and the Richmond Fed releases its manufacturing index. Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr is set to speak at the Conference on Counterparty Credit Risk Management later today, while Bloomberg Live is hosting its[ Future Investor event in Chicago](. Today’s earnings lineup includes Macy’s, Lowe’s and eBay, with cost-cutting measures in focus. What we’ve been reading This is what’s caught our eye over the past 24 hours. - Everything [you need to know](about a possible government shutdown. - Why does Goldman [trade at a discount]( to the wider stock market? - EQT raises €22 billion for its [largest-ever]( private equity fund. - A deepdive into Germany’s slow-motion [property crash](. - [Disinflation is coming]( to the UK, helped by competition among grocers. - Chinese acquisitions in Europe match the [lowest in a decade](. - We did a live Q&A on Covid-19 and heart disease — [catch up here](. - Zurich accidentally paid city employees their [monthly salaries twice](. And finally, here's what Joe’s interested in this morning Over the last month or so, the mood has shifted from soft landing to no landing. The employment data has been better than expected and the inflation data has been hotter than expected. With all of these reports, there have been some reasons for caution. Maybe seasonality helped flatter the heat on the inflation data. Maybe there was some underlying weakness in labor. Anyway it's all possible. But while we're here, this is from yesterday's [Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index](. Sure looks like a lot of chunky up arrows. Joe Weisenthal is the co-host of Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast. Follow him on X [@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. [Bloomberg Markets Wrap: The latest on what's moving global markets. Tap to read.]( Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. 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