Asia Holdouts Buckle, Gloomy Draghi, Pence Lashes China: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Friday, Asia. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help get you through to the weekend:

• A trio of central banks that weathered the global financial crisis without having to resort to unorthodox measures now confront the prospect that they might have little alternative if their economies get any worse
• Mario Draghi offered a gloomy assessment of the euro-area economy in his last press conference as ECB chief, while adding that there’s no reason to fret that his newly revived quantitative-easing program will run out space
• U.S. Vice President Mike Pence criticized China’s interventions in Hong Kong while calling for greater engagement between the world’s two biggest economies
• To avoid a recession in the U.S. in 2020, households need to keep spending, peace needs to break out in global trade wars, and investors can’t get spooked—by the U.S. presidential election or anything else, writes Stephanie Flanders
• Months of unrest in Hong Kong is proving to be a blessing for Singapore, a long-time rival to the title of Asia’s pre-eminent financial center
• The BOJ is currently considering refraining from extra stimulus at its October meeting but will look for a fresh way to show its continued readiness to take action
• India’s investment and consumption activity weakened in September, putting the economy on course for another quarter of sub-par growth
• Argentina’s central bank is weighing options to minimize FX volatility and the loss of reserves resulting from the uncertainty caused by the Oct. 27 presidential election

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Malcolm Scott

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