ECB Emergency Powers, U.K. Restrictions, Italy’s Chance: Eco Day

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

• The European Central Bank risks legal trouble if it tries to extend the “emergency powers” of its pandemic bond-buying plan to its other asset-purchase program, according to Executive Board member Yves Mersch
  • Read the full interview with Mersch here
  • The case for the ECB to add monetary stimulus gained momentum, with Executive Board Member Fabio Panetta saying policy makers should err on the side of doing more
  • The ECB will start accepting bonds linked to environmental goals as part of President Christine Lagarde’s drive to press ahead with a green agenda
  • The ECB should introduce a green bank-lending program a part of its strategy to rekindle the economy following the Covid-19 pandemic, according to advocacy group Positive Money Europe
• U.K.’s struggling businesses face another six months of hardship after Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled a fresh tranche of coronavirus restrictions that will last until spring 2021
• No Italian government has ever had so much cash at its disposal as Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte -- enough possibly to transform the region’s laggard economy. But if that fiscal hoard is spent unwisely, it could become the biggest missed opportunity of a generation
• Swiss National Bank President Thomas Jordan has taken his foot off the pedal after the most aggressive currency intervention in five years early in the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic
• Just one week after the U.S. Federal Reserve set the tone for the world by cementing in a low interest rate for the foreseeable future, Norway’s central bank might be about to emphatically differ
• It’s rate decision day in the Czech Republic -- here’s what to expect
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. economy has a long way to go before fully recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. The testimony highlighted the extent to which new legislation would help to limit lasting damage, writes Andrew Husby
  • The U.S. central bank’s new guidance on interest rates doesn’t preclude tightening before inflation averages 2% for some period of time, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said
• Activity in Japan’s manufacturing and service sectors improved only marginally in September, signs that further progress in the economic recovery from the pandemic will be slow
• China’s government has amassed trillions of yuan in unspent money, handing it fiscal power to stimulate its economic recovery
• New Zealand’s central bank said it may launch a new stimulus tool this year to further reduce borrowing costs, a precursor to taking interest rates negative in 2021
• Australian retail sales tumbled in August, led by a plunge in Victoria that exacerbated weakness elsewhere, as Westpac Banking Corp.’s Bill Evans joined the growing chorus calling an October easing by the central bank

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