5 things to start your day

[Bloomberg Markets]( [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]([Twitter Share]( [SUBSCRIBE [Subscribe]](  Forward Guidance  Libor to end in 2021, it's a huge day for earnings, and Fed statement further weakens the dollar. Offered no more Libor, the benchmark underpinning more than $350 trillion of financial products across the world, will be [phased out]( by the end of 2021, Andrew Bailey, the head of the Financial Conduct Authority, said this morning. The FCA said the lack of transactions data meant it was no longer possible to determine a reliable rate. Libor's reputation has taken a battering in recent years as it became [dogged by scandal]( but finding a replacement will [not be easy](. Earnings, earnings, earnings The "[day from hell](" for corporate analysts is well underway. Among the notable earnings results this morning: Royal Dutch Shell Plc's [profit boost]( from rising cash flows, Total SA's statement that it is [ready to make acquisitions]( as its financial position strengthens, and Deutsche Bank AG's [outlook warning]( after its weakest quarterly revenue in over three years. Shares in British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc [plunged]( after it suffered a setback in a crucial lung-cancer drug trial. Amazon.com Inc., Twitter Inc., and Intel Corp. are some of the many companies reporting in the U.S. today. Dollar slide Yesterday's Federal Reserve [statement]( added further impetus to an [already-weakening dollar](. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dropped to its [lowest level since May 2016](, with the euro [trading at $1.1726]( by 5:41 a.m. Eastern Time. Technical analysis suggests that should the greenback close below 1,150 on the dollar index, it may be set to erase all its [post-2014 gains](. Markets mixed Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index [climbed 0.9 percent](, while Japan's Topix index added 0.4 percent amid strong earnings from some of the region's key companies. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was [0.1 percent lower]( at 5:45 a.m. as corporate results meant large variations in national indexes with the DAX Index falling 0.6 percent as Italy's FSTE MIB Index gained 0.2 percent. U.S. market futures pointed to a [higher open](. Failing demolition Senate Republican plans to demolish Obamacare are more likely to turn out to be a light trimming at the edges as the [votes needed to overturn]( the previous administration's signature legislation are not forthcoming. An all-night blizzard of amendment votes late today may ultimately lead to a bill that merely [ends the mandate]( that all Americans have insurance or pay a penalty, along with a few other provisions. Investors continue to ignore the drama in Washington, with health-care companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index [outperforming the overall market]( this year. Here's what you should read today - The market will [kill oil]( before the government does. - Summer of Samsung: A corruption scandal, a political firestorm -- and a [record profit](. - Spanish unemployment falls to the lowest since [start of 2009](. - U.K. politics is [a boon]( for London fx trading. - Bannon calls for a [44 percent tax]( on incomes over $5 million. - More than a year after Brexit vote, Britain wants to know what [EU workers]( do to the economy. - Michael R. Bloomberg: Trump's [dishonorable transgender ban](.  And finally, here’s what Luke’s interested in this morning We've discussed how aging populations -- and the concurrent rise in non-discretionary entitlement spending -- have the potential to serve as a moderating force on the business cycle. Here’s UBS Wealth Management global chief economist Paul Donovan with another reason why business cycle volatility might be more subdued going forward: better inventory management. Inventories are probably the subcomponent in the national income and product accounts that get discussed the least, but those cycles determine just how good and bad expansions and recessions can get. Inventory management tends to evoke images of Amazon’s massive warehouses and armies of robots, but it’s better to put the focus on smaller businesses. The UBS economist reckons they hold more than two thirds of inventories. “As small businesses were not given interest-free credit to finance holdings of inventory, they were forced to become more efficient at inventory management," he writes. "Efficient inventory management means less inventory volatility. If there is less inventory volatility, future recessions may be less severe than the recessions of the past.” As such, there's been a broad-based Schumpeterian outcome of the crisis that’s improved efficiency -- perhaps for a perverse reason. Since 2008, a once-strong connection between when suppliers thought their customers would need to boost inventory and when businesses actually did so has deteriorated -- a reflection of poor access to credit, in Donovan’s mind. One wonders whether this dynamic is more cyclical than structural, but here’s to hoping these presumed efficiency gains won’t be reversed in the event the credit spigots get opened up a little more. We’ll get an update on the state of U.S. inventories -- and the economy -- with the release of second-quarter growth data on Friday.   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 the Bloomberg Markets newsletter.   [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022