Central Banks Fret, ECB Rules Relax, Trump China Salvo: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Thursday, Asia. Here’s news from Bloomberg Economics to help get your day started:

• The world’s most-powerful central bankers warned that escalating trade tensions are damaging business confidence, threatening global growth
• At the same ECB forum, Fed chief Jerome Powell played down worries low unemployment heralds a return to high-inflation, BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda backed a government call for wage rises of 3 percent, Mario Draghi threw his weight behind a French-German proposals to revamp EU economic management, while RBA boss Philip Lowe said he’s less worried about low inflation than trying to boost it too quickly
• The ECB is expecting to plow at least 160 billion euros of maturing debt back into bonds next year and could consider relaxing the rules on buying
• The Trump administration accused China of threatening U.S. economic interests as the EU made good on its threat to hit American goods with tariffs. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is signaling his displeasure with President Trump’s trade war with China by saying nothing at all.
• The booming U.S. economy faces mounting risks its surge will be short-lived due to constraints in housing and the brewing trade war with China
• Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese imports could cut as much as half a percentage point from the nation’s growth. The trade tensions are hitting emerging-market commodity suppliers and China-exporter nations especially hard. Meanwhile Brazil signaled it may consider lifting rates from a record low as the central bank seeks to shield its economy from the emerging-market selloff
• New Zealand’s economic growth slowed in the first quarter as uncertainty over government policies weighed on business and consumer confidence
• The Bank of England is set to wait a little longer before following up on last year’s interest-rate hike after a run of mixed economic data
• When China announced last year that it finally had enough of everybody else’s junk, governments the world over knew they had a problem

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, James Mayger

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