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Welcome to Monday, Europe. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the week.

  • The economic threat from the delta variant of Covid-19 is a more drawn out recovery in North America and Europe, where vaccinations are well advanced, Bloomberg Economics says
  • Britain’s biggest financial institutions are on track to meet the Bank of England’s deadline to be ready for negative interest rates, giving authorities another tool to aid the economy if needed
  • Only 6% of economists surveyed expect U.S. labor shortages to abate by the end of the year
  • China’s economy continued its stable pace of recovery in July, though there were some signs of weakness as property sales slumped, small business confidence slipped and the stock market fell
  • China lashed out at U.S. policies in a tense start to high-level talks in Tianjin, declaring the relationship between the world’s two largest economies to be a “stalemate”
  • South Africa introduced a new relief package to aid post-riot recovery and eased Covid-19 curbs as infections slow down
  • Extreme weather is slamming crops across the globe, raising the risk of further food inflation when already are near their highest in a decade and hunger is on the rise
  • With a Tesla, a diamond Rolex and a $100,000 shopping spree up for grabs, Hong Kong’s vaccine lotteries are easily the flashiest -- yet it’s not the only location rolling out eye-catching incentives to boost flagging vaccination rates
  • Policy hawks at the Federal Reserve are setting their sights on scaling back the U.S. central bank’s massive intervention in the mortgage market as home prices soar -- but the Fed leadership doesn’t sound convinced by arguments in favor of a hasty exit strategy
  • Secretary Janet Yellen said the Treasury Department will begin special steps next week to avoid breaching the U.S. debt limit as a two-year suspension of the ceiling ends, urging lawmakers to act “as soon as possible” to avert a payment default
  • The U.K. government said it will scrap a piece of planned red tape on wine imports, which it said would save 10 pence ($0.14) on each bottle imported into Britain

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