Central Banks’ Shudder, China Slowdown, Trade Deal: EcoDay

(Bloomberg) --

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

• Global central banks are approaching the end of the year with a collective shudder at the risky behavior that their low interest-rate policies are encouraging
• Earliest-available indicators of China’s economic performance point to a continued slowdown in November
• President Donald Trump declared that talks with China on the first phase of a trade deal were near completion after negotiators from both sides spoke by phone
• In 2017, then-U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said his country would never turn its back on Portugal, one of its oldest allies. Some of his countrymen are doing otherwise
• After a string of bank closures and a high-level bribery scandal put it at the heart of Europe’s dirty-money storm last year, Latvia declared efforts to clean up its act a success
• Japan’s measures for encouraging the spread of cashless payments will likely need more funding beyond the end of March and could be extended as part of a planned government stimulus package
• Australia’s AAA credit rating -- one of only 11 in the world -- would come under increased “downward pressure” if the government opted to deploy fiscal stimulus that changed the trajectory of the budget, S&P Global Ratings said
• The record for the world’s lowest fertility rate looks set to be re-written in 2019 by South Korea, again

To contact the reporter on this story: Anirban Nag in Mumbai at anag8@bloomberg.net

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

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.