(Bloomberg) -- Happy Friday, Asia. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to take you through to the weekend:

  • Three hawks urged the Fed move quickly to slow asset purchases. Rising virus cases are now limiting what Jerome Powell can say on policy. Bloomberg Economics looks at what to expect at Jackson Hole and beyond. Bridgewater Associates’ Greg Jensen says the Fed will likely taper faster than markets expect and rates rise more quickly
  • China’s rebound leveled off, suggesting faltering growth momentum
  • When Chancellor Angela Merkel steps down after 16 years, Germany faces a watershed. Budget policy, the cornerstone of its post-war stability, may need a rethink after debt limits were cast aside. Meantime, Germans fearing inflation are loading up on gold bars
  • The delta variant is upending every model of success, sending economies once ranked as among the best places to be tumbling
  • For decades, the services industry powered India’s growth and tempered unemployment. The pandemic is now leading to calls for an urgent rebalancing of the economy toward manufacturing
  • President Xi Jinping said China will strive to hit key economic and social development targets set for this year
  • September had promised a return to normal life, but that continues to elude the U.S.
  • Supply constraints are pushing prices up more than the ECB expected, Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said. ECB officials found in July that their new inflation strategy and changes to their commitment on the future path of interest rates could end up reducing the need for ultra-expansionary policy
  • Sweden’s Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson, frontrunner to replace the outgoing prime minister, said a robust economic recovery leaves room for an expansionary budget. Meantime, Norway’s central bank chief Oystein Olsen is stepping down, potentially opening the door for its first female governor
  • The World Bank Group delayed plans to have more employees return to its headquarters until January 2022
  • The pandemic has weakened the gravitational pull of city centers, with new forces now reshaping knowledge-based economies

 

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