Trade Deal Signed, ECB Review, U.K. Productivity Woes: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) --

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

• The U.S. and China signed the first phase of a broader trade pact amid persistent questions over whether President Donald Trump’s efforts to rewrite the economic relationship with Beijing will ever go further. Here are five key points from the deal
• If European Central Bank officials use their review of monetary policy this year as a chance to connect with ordinary people, they need to be ready for some plain truths
• The cost of the U.K.’s productivity crisis is “already multiples of even the worst-case Brexit scenario,” according to Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane
  • The U.K. housing market perked up in December as Boris Johnson’s commanding election win helped push up sales and expectations for price gains
  • Pound traders piling into bets on an interest-rate cut this month are getting a warning from strategists preaching the virtue of patience
• The Swiss National Bank retains the ability to wage currency market interventions if necessary, according to one of its officials
• Half a year into his job leading the Turkish central bank, Murat Uysal might finally reveal where his priorities lie. Meantime, Turkey’s top Islamic authority is challenging 1,400 years of religious thinking, with a new ruling on high interest loans
• Inflation shocks across eastern Europe have put local central-bank policy front and center for bond and currency traders, even as officials play down the uptick in price growth.
• President Vladimir Putin replaced his long-serving prime minister and called for sweeping constitutional changes, fueling speculation that the Russian leader is moving to extend his grip on power beyond the end of his term in 2024. Leonid Bershidsky sifts through the events and Scott Johnson runs the economics
• The planet is warming faster than at any time in the history of civilization. Five independent assessments each concluded that last year was the second hottest in 140 years of data. Meantime, a export critical route for American coal to Asia is drying up after another U.S. city passed a law to bar coal from leaving its shores
• Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is set to visit India next week, aiming to boost trade as ties with neighboring Argentina deteriorate
• The Fed’s low interest rates, the perception that there is a high bar to future rate increases and expansion of its balance sheet are helping to lift asset prices, Dallas Fed chief Robert Kaplan said

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: James Mayger in Beijing at jmayger@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jeffrey Black at jblack25@bloomberg.net

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