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China $200B Import Boost, Fed Outlook, Davos VIP RSVPs: Eco Day

China $200B Import Boost, Fed Outlook, Davos VIP RSVPs: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Wednesday, Asia. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:

  • Further details are emerging on how China would increase imports from the U.S. by as much as $200 billion in order to meet the phase one trade deal: waiving tariffs on ethanol and re-routing trade from Hong Kong
  • Two Federal Reserve policy makers, Robert Kaplan and Eric Rosengren, reiterated that interest rates are on hold unless there’s a material change in the outlook for the U.S. economy
  • President Donald Trump is planning to attend next year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, giving him an opportunity to tout his economic record. The U.K.’s Boris Johnson will skip the event
  • India’s Home Minister Amit Shah defended his government’s new religion-based citizenship law as he addressed business leaders for the first time since protests erupted across the country
  • Bloomberg’s Chang Shu has revised China’s 2020 growth forecast to 5.9% from 5.7% previously, reflecting reduced external risks and signs policy support is gaining some traction
  • A slight uptick in inflation last month should give Sweden’s central bank enough ammunition to raise interest rates this week even as growth slows, writes Johanna Jeansson
  • U.S. job openings unexpectedly increased in October, a further sign of labor market tightness with the jobless rate at a half-century low
  • Permits to build new apartment buildings in the U.S. are surging as a swelling population of millennials fuels demand for rentals and lower interest rates reduce construction financing costs
  • Uncertainty hit the U.K. labor market, with vacancies below 800,000 for the first time in two years and wages growing at the slowest annual pace since 2018
  • The stalemate between Emmanuel Macron’s government and labor unions deepened as France headed into a third week of transport strikes over the president’s effort to reform the pension system
  • The Trump administration plans to strengthen enforcement of Iran sanctions with a plan to increase pressure on global shippers, Chinese state-owned enterprises and exporters of raw materials used in metal production
  • Argentina’s economy grew faster than expected in the third quarter, technically ending an 18-month recession. This comes as the government announces a bill to address growth challenges
  • Former U.S. central bank officials warned of the risks the Fed has created by easing banking regulations at the same time that it’s cut rates
  • The economic gender gap will take 257 years to close, according to the World Economic Forum, with technological change having a disproportionate effect

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexandra Veroude in Sydney at averoude4@bloomberg.net

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

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