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Good morning.
U.S. futures are trading lower, with Big Tech leading the way down. Thatās even as bond yields remain totally stuck in neutral. The 10-year Treasury note is now atĀ 1.588%,Ā continuing its sideways trajectory.
Investors are taking a breather ahead of a big batch of data coming out in the coming hours on jobless claims, durable goods orders, GDP, and pending home sales.
In crypto land, itās a blur of red with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin all under pressure.
Letās see what else is moving the markets.
Markets update
Asia
- The majorĀ Asia indexesĀ are mixed in afternoon trading with the Nikkei down 0.3%.
- The era of engagement with China āhas come to an end.ā So says President Bidenās Asia czar, Kurt Campbell, citing Chinaās āassertiveā push in the region that includes military clashes with India and a bruising āeconomic campaignā against Australia as two recent examples.
- The comments come as the U.S. and China trade representatives meet in Beijing today for the first round of whatās being described as ācandidā talks.
Europe
- TheĀ European boursesĀ are mostly higher out of the gates this morning with the Stoxx Europe 600 up 0.1% in early trading.
- Shares in Royal Dutch Shell were down 1% after a Dutch court ruled on Wednesday the oil and gas giant has to slash emissions further and faster than planned, saying itās a big contributor to climate change. Now that they have powerful friends in the ESG investment community, climate hawks are feeling emboldened.
- Bayer really wants its Roundup weed killer legal troubles to go awayā¦but they wonāt. A U.S. judge on Wednesday rejected Bayerās offer to pay up to $2 billion to settle future claims. Shares were 5.2% lower on Thursday, one of the biggest losers on Germanyās DAX.
U.S.
- U.S. futuresĀ point to a weak open. Thatās after the major averages barely eked out gains on Wednesday.
- The big out-performers yesterday were the meme stocksāerm, stonks. GameStop, AMC Entertainment and Express Ltd. all saw double-digit gains yesterday. Alas, my nephew sold his GME shares yesterday, he told me, which may explain why the video game retailer is 4% lower in pre-market trading at the moment.
- Whatās on the calendar today, data-wise: pending home sales, a second reading on GDP and jobless claims.
Elsewhere
- GoldĀ is flat, trading around $1,900/ounce.
- TheĀ dollar is down. Again.
- Crude is down with Brent around $68/barrel.
- As we near the weekend, BitcoinĀ is under pressure again. (Probably a coincidence.) As of 4 am ET, it was trading around $38,200. Ethereum, Dogecoin were off 4.3% and 5.7%, respectively.
***
Buzzworthy
Happy (belated) Birthday!

I was remiss in not mentioning this yesterday, but better late than never. Data and stats courtesy of LPL Research.
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House prices š

Iāll help you out with the fine print here: homes costing $300,000 or more now make up about 60% of the market. A decade ago, they made up less than 30%, according to Calculated Risk.
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The great decoupling

According to the latest HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment IndexĀ survey, Americans are feeling far more bullish about the jobs market than they are about the housing market. Their confidence in landing a new job (blue line) is soaring; finding a new house (magenta line) is tanking.
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āCrushing dayā for Big š¢ļø

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***
Postscript
I have an update on yesterdayās Bull Sheet.
A number of readersāquite a few of you, actuallyāresponded to my pachyderm puzzler.
All but one of you ultimately sided with my wife and the girls on account that you interpret pachyderm to be a non-specific grouping of four-legged, thick-skinned mammals, and therefore, my entry should earn nil points.
This thin-skinned mammal doesnāt agree. I will look for a higher authority to appeal the matter to.
One other thingā¦Just about all of you admitted to me that you have no credentials in zoology, but that you feel qualified to comment on matters of marital/domestic harmony.
Gee, thanks.
***
Have a nice day, everyone. Iāll see you here tomorrow⦠Until then, thereās more news below.
Bernhard Warner
@BernhardWarner
Bernhard.Warner@Fortune.com
As always, you can write toĀ bullsheet@fortune.comĀ or reply to this emailĀ withĀ suggestions and feedback.
Today's reads
Icahn eyes crypto.Ā Billionaire investor Carl Icahn says he's studying Bitcoin, Ethereum and the whole cryptocurrency sector, and he may be ready to pounce with a $1 billion bet.
Missed out on meme stocks? Now there's an ETF for that. As Fortune's Chris Morris reports, "Tuttle Capital Management has launched the FOMOā'fear of missing out'āETF, which lets investors take part in theĀ retail trading boomĀ for select stocks that might not be on their radar."Ā
Archegos meltdown. As we've long suspected, federal investigators have opened an investigation into the collapse of Archegos Capital Management. Archegos's toxic trades ended up costing these global banking giants billions.
Some of these stories require a subscription to access. There is a discount offer for our loyal readers ifĀ you use this link to sign up. Thank you for supporting our journalism.
Market candy
Quote of the day
If Tesla bought a bunch of Bitcoin in early February at $35,000 and after a big jump, the price falls to $31,000 on May 19 (as actually occurred) it's obliged to take a $4,000 impairment on every one of those coins. But if Bitcoin vaults back above $31,000, Tesla doesn't get to mark the coins back up and eliminate the write-down. Those impairments are forever.
That's Fortune's Shawn Tully who gives TSLA investors a preview of what could be sitting on the EV maker's books after the rollercoaster ride in Bitcoin prices in recent weeks.