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QUICK FIX

Dems keep pressure on Trump — Via John Bresnahan, Andrew Desiderio, and Sarah Ferris: “In a single day, House Democrats demanded President Donald Trump’s tax returns for six years, moved to get a decade’s worth of his financial records and prepared to issue a subpoena for the full Mueller report from the Justice Department.

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“Top House Democratic lawmakers and aides say the triple-headed attack was more by accident than design, but it’s also clear that April 3 marks a turning point for the new Democratic majority. In less than eight hours, House Democrats moved to an all-out investigative assault on Trump” Read more.

Warren wants to jail execs — Our Zachary Warmbrodt: “Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats in Congress are rolling out a batch of tough legislative proposals designed to rein in and even jail corporate executives, a push that they say would protect investors and consumers but one that also serves as a preview of their looming 2020 campaign.” Read more.

Trump says no on his taxes — Our Brian Faler: “The House’s top tax writer formally requested … Trump’s tax returns on Wednesday, escalating a bid by Democrats to unmask the long-hidden documents that’s likely to ignite a precedent-setting legal showdown between Congress and the administration …

“The move is being met by strong resistance by the White House. Asked this evening about the request, Trump said: ‘Until such time as I am not under audit, I will not be doing that, thank you. … We are under audit, despite what people said and we are working that out’” Read more.

** A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Capital Markets: At the 13^th Annual Capital Markets Summit, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness released their Financing Main Street report based on the responses of more than 300 businesses of various type, sizes, and revenue to better understand how Main Street uses the financial system, and to measure the impact that financial regulation was having on the overall economy. Read the report here. **

GOOD THURSDAY MORNING — Email me on bwhite@politico.com and follow me on Twitter @morningmoneyben. Email Aubree Eliza Weaver on aweaver@politico.com and follow her on Twitter @AubreeEWeaver.

THIS MORNING ON POLITICO PRO FINANCIAL SERVICES — Katy O’Donnell on HUD Secretary Ben Carson’s dismissal of reports that the White House has tried to block or slow-walk disaster-recovery funding for Puerto Rico. for more information about the company’s facial recognition program. To get Morning Money every day before 6 a.m., please contact Pro Services at (703) 341-4600 orinfo@politicopro.com.

Driving the Day

DRIVING THE DAY — President Trump is scheduled to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at 4:30 p.m. as the White House continues to try and lock down a new trade deal with China … Initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. expected to rise to 215K from 211K

BETO LOCKS DOWN THE CASH — Our Rebecca Morin: “2020 presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke announced … that his campaign raised $9.4 million in the 18 days since he first announced his candidacy. O'Rourke's campaign said that 218,000 contributions came in, and that 98 percent of the contributions were less than $200 and that the average donation was $43. Last month, the Democratic former Texas congressman announced he raised $6.1 million in the first 24 hours from more than 128,000 donors.” Read more.

STOCKS END MODERATELY HIGHER — AP’s Alex Veiga: “Stocks recovered from a late-afternoon bout of selling on Wall Street to finish modestly higher Wednesday, giving the benchmark S&P 500 its fifth straight gain.

“Technology stocks powered much of the rally, led by chipmakers. Retailers, homebuilders and hotel operators were among the big gainers. Energy companies, consumer goods makers and industrial stocks took the heaviest losses. The market’s last-minute rebound after an early rally faded echoed the prior day’s results and came in a mostly quiet week for market-moving news.” Read more.

And tech stocks are poised to erase their rout — Bloomberg’s Elena Popina and Jeran Wittenstein: “Nobody saw it coming. Not hedge funds that cut technology stocks to the lowest levels since 2016, not retail investors who pulled $8 billion from funds tracking the sector. Now, after the worst sell-off of the bull market, it’s taken just 100 days to erase the whole thing.

“Up in 13 of the last 14 weeks, the S&P 500 Information Technology Index gained as much as 1.3 percent to 1,338.77 Wednesday, briefly exceeding its Oct. 3 high of 1,332.87. Down 24 percent on Christmas Eve, the index has snapped back 32 percent, driven by gains exceeding 50 percent from Advanced Micro Devices to Xerox Corp. and Xilinx Inc.” Read more.

FLY AROUND

KUDLOW SAYS U.S.-CHINA TALKS MAKING PROGRESS — Reuters’ Jeff Mason: “Trade talks between the United States and China made ‘good headway’ last week in Beijing and the two sides aim to bridge differences during talks that could extend beyond three days this week, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said. Kudlow, speaking to reporters at an event organized by the Christian Science Monitor, said China had recognized problems for the first time during the talks that the United States had raised for years.” Read more.

WHITE HOUSE ‘FULLY BEHIND’ MOORE — AP’s Darlene Superville: “President Donald Trump is ‘fully behind’ Stephen Moore, his choice to help lead the Federal Reserve, despite unflattering details that have come to light about Moore’s personal life, a top White House official said Wednesday while also complaining about Washington’s ‘toxic’ environment.

“‘I spoke to the president yesterday. He completely supports Steve,’ Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, told reporters. ‘People are being awful hard on him. ... This town is a toxic town in some respects.’” Read more.

ACCOUNTING RULE MAKER REJECTS BANK PLAN — WSJ’s Michael Rapoport: “Accounting rule makers on Wednesday rejected a proposal by regional banks to soften the impact of a change that will force banks to book losses on soured loans much faster. The rejection means the accounting change — known as CECL, for current expected credit losses — will go forward as planned at the start of 2020 for publicly traded U.S. banks. CECL will require banks to record all expected future losses on their loans as soon as they are issued.” Read more.

BIGGEST ECONOMIC CHALLENGE? DEMOGRAPHICS. — NYT’s Neil Irwin: “For many years, American economists have spoken of Japan and Western Europe as places where the slow grind of demographic change — masses of workers reaching retirement age, and smaller generations replacing them — has been a major drag on the economy. But it is increasingly outdated to think of that as a problem for other countries. The deepest challenge for the United States economy may really be about demographics. And our understanding of the implications is only starting to catch up.” Read more.

SOME BIG BANKS NOW ADDING STAFF AFTER CUTS — Bloomberg’s Yalman Onaran: “Hundreds of thousands of jobs have disappeared on Wall Street since the 2008 financial crisis and some of the biggest banks haven’t stopped cutting. Still, some firms managed to reverse the trend and are slowly boosting staff levels.

“While 802,000 positions were eliminated by the 16 largest firms in the U.S. and Europe following the meltdown, 76,000 new ones have been created at nine of those companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and BNP Paribas SA have almost reversed all their post-crisis job cuts.” Read more.

JUNK BONDS SUGGEST STOCKS MAY HAVE FURTHER TO RUN — Reuters’ Kate Duguid and April Joyner: “U.S. stocks just wrapped up their best quarter in nearly a decade, coming within a stone’s throw of a record high. Junk bonds did them one better, regaining record levels and then some. Given the long-running correlation between the two asset classes, that could mean stocks will soon be back in record territory as well, keeping alive a bull market run now stretching into its second decade.” Read more.

LENDERS ENJOY MINI REFINANCING BOOM — WSJ’s Ben Eisen: “Falling mortgage rates have spurred a mini refinancing boom, a piece of good news for banks and other lenders that have been grappling with a cooling housing market.

“Mortgage-application volume jumped 18% last week from a week earlier, according to data released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Refinance applications were up 39 percent, and the MBA’s refinance index, which measures applications, hit its highest level since November 2016. Purchase applications were up 4 percent.” Read more.

ALSO FOR YOUR RADAR

FOOD AND AG VETERANS JOIN THE RISE FUND – Per release: "Impact investing firm The Rise Fund has added two veteran leaders to its Food and Agriculture Sector: Walter Robb, former Whole Foods CEO and current Principal at Stonewall Robb Advisors, has joined Rise as a Senior Advisor, and Taryn Goodman, former NatureVest senior director, has joined as Sector Lead to help source new investment opportunities and develop impact and sector strategy to help expand focus on food and agriculture."

ENGAGED— Whitney PakPour, VP and private wealth relationship manager at Merrill Lynch, recently got engaged to Lowell Zeta, senior associate at Hogan Lovells LLP. The couple met on the League. Pic.

Peter Orszag will be CEO of financial advisory at Lazard. Orszag, who was director of OMB in the Obama White House, most recently was head of M&A, North America, at the firm.

Rich Latour has been named the global head of content at BlackRock. He most recently was VP of digital content strategy at Goldman Sachs and was a journalist at NBC News for 18 years.

** A message from U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Capital Markets: This week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness released a new report at their 13th Annual Capital Markets Summit. This report, “Financing Main Street: The State of Business Financing in America,” was based on the responses of more than 300 businesses of various type, sizes, and revenue. It shows that in order to promote sustainable economic growth, our financial system must be as vibrant and diverse as the businesses it serves. And though more optimistic, 82% of companies reported taking some action as a result of changes to banking regulations, up from 61% in 2013 and 79% in 2016. Read the full report here. **