China-U.S. Talks, U.S. Labor Market, Japan Trade Deal: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) --

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

• The U.S. labor market is showing weakness. Hiring for temporary-help positions and weekly working hours have declined this year even as unemployment has remained near a half-century low
• China and the U.S. announced that face-to-face negotiations aimed at ending their tariff war will be held in Washington in the coming weeks, as mistrust remains
  • U.S. companies showed widespread concerns about tariff and trade policy uncertainty, but generally reported minimal impact thus far, according to a regional survey from the Federal Reserve
• U.S. negotiators are still thrashing out details of a trade deal with Japan that President Donald Trump wants to sign this month
• The U.S.-Mexico trade agreement dodged a potential political problem for Trump
• Mario Draghi’s bid to reactivate bond purchases in a final salvo of stimulus is being threatened by the biggest pushback on policy ever seen during his eight-year reign as European Central Bank president
  • The hawks on the ECB’s Governing Council will face an uphill battle stopping a reboot of quantitative easing, says David Powell of Bloomberg Economics
• Sweden’s central bank unexpectedly kept plans intact to exit negative interest rates toward the end of the year
• China’s cabinet signaled that a reduction in the amount of funds banks have to hold in reserve is on the way. Bloomberg Economics’ Chang Shu and David Qu write that there’s a lot to be learned from the State Council’s tone
• As global central banks swing back into easing mode, old tools long frowned upon by monetary purists are being embraced to ensure cash goes where it’s needed

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