(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Tuesday, Asia. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:

  • Fed Chair Jerome Powell is cautioning lawmakers that the U.S. economy remains in a damaged and uncertain state
  • As the coronavirus ricocheted from China through South Korea, Iran and Italy in February, Philip Lowe knew Australia wouldn’t be spared
  • President-elect Joe Biden formally announced his selection of Janet Yellen to be Treasury secretary, Neera Tanden to lead the Office of Management and Budget and Cecilia Rouse to head the Council of Economic Advisers, in picks that suggest he will make it a priority to lift the fortunes of Black and lower-income Americans
  • China’s economic offensive against Australia is partly designed to warn countries against vocally opposing Beijing’s interests
  • Recent measures from the Bank of Thailand that aim to restrain the surging baht will likely be followed by “further strict” steps, but policy makers are unlikely to impose outright capital controls
  • The WTO said South Korea violated international trade rules when it renewed a series of tariffs on Japanese stainless steel bars
  • The Bank of England is seeing old fault lines open up as officials lock horns on whether to take interest rates below zero for the first time
  • Canada is set for a record GDP gain in the third quarter, writes Andrew Husby, as the government, which has delivered the developed world’s biggest Covid-19 response, plans another dose of stimulus
  • ECB officials should consider all options as part of their response to a worsening outlook, the IMF said, as the World Economic Forum is considering alternative locations for next year’s annual gathering
  • The property market is running red hot in small-town Australia. Buyers are snapping up houses — sometimes sight unseen — as city folk bet the era of working in an office fulltime won’t return. That’s filling some locals with horror

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