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

  • Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she wasn’t forecasting interest-rate rises would be needed to rein in inflation spurred by Biden administration spending, clarifying comments that ruffled markets
  • Signs of inflation are indeed picking up, with a mounting number of consumer-facing companies warning in recent days that supply shortages and logistical logjams may force them to raise prices
  • The world’s most powerful economies agreed to back plans for vaccine passports in a bid to revive the travel and tourism industry
  • From New York to Sydney, here’s how Covid-19 -- along with ultra low rates and government spending -- upended real estate markets
  • On that front, New Zealand’s central bank said it’s ready to further tighten lending restrictions to rein in a red-hot housing market
  • Thailand is expected to keep interest rates unchanged Wednesday
  • Bloomberg Economics reckons animal spirits are more important than higher taxes when it comes to investment. Meantime, the IMF called for global rules on corporate-income tax to avoid a scenario where conflicts between countries leave all of them worse off in the end
  • A senior White House aide deflected the question of whether the president will offer Fed Chair Jerome Powell a second four-year term
  • Citigroup Inc.’s global chief economist, Catherine Mann, is leaving the bank after three years in the job
  • The EU needs “intrusive” rules to prevent foreign state-funded firms -- such as those from China -- from undercutting bloc companies
  • The coronavirus wave that plunged India into the world’s biggest health crisis has the potential to worsen in the coming weeks

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