China Consumer Crunch, Trust But Verify, Fed Board Seat: Eco Day

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

• When Apple cut its revenue forecast for the first time in almost two decades, citing weakness in China, a chill swept corporate America about the possibility Chinese consumers’ confidence was cracking
• President Trump’s top economic adviser said the scope of U.S. trade talks with Beijing is broader and deeper than ever before, but a final outcome would depend on verification of Chinese commitments
• White House officials are considering new candidates for at least one and possibly both empty seats on the Federal Reserve Board for Trump to nominate. Meanwhile, it seems that the administration’s tariff policy is actually helping the Fed achieve its inflation goal
• New Zealand consumer prices rose faster than forecast last quarter, sending the currency higher despite inflation holding below the central bank’s 2 percent target midpoint
• With inflation sinking and side effects piling up, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s views will today come under scrutiny after the Bank of Japan’s first policy meeting of the year
• The European Union has moved closer to imposing trade sanctions against Cambodia as a result of alleged human-rights violations

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, Chris Bourke

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