RBA Warns on World, Hong Kong Fallout, Ban ‘Down Under’: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Thursday, Asia. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help get your day started:

• The Reserve Bank of Australia’s No. 2 official said global firms’ are unlikely to maintain their strong hiring while they stall investment amid the U.S.-China confrontation, pushing the world into an avoidable slump
• His warning comes following another round of bad news highlighting the risk that the global economy is headed for a serious downturn
• Meantime, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard called current U.S. economic conditions “quite good”
• Here’s how hard the protests are slamming Hong Kong’s economy
• When an Australian television show recently referred to unemployed people as “dole bludgers,” the social-media backlash offered a signal for the economy
• Indonesian President Joko Widodo is set to unveil measures to lift Southeast Asia’s largest economy from the stagnation that’s marked his first term
• The Thai government’s pledge to boost the country’s minimum wage is foundering because of an economic slowdown
• The term “Down Under” as a somehow blessed space separate from the realities of the rest of the world really ought to be banished, at least from discussions about economics, argues Daniel Moss

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