China's Push-Back, World War II Debt Levels, Japan Inc.: Eco Day

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

• China’s top trade and monetary policy officials delivered hints of resistance against trade demands made by Washington
• The U.S. budget deficit is putting federal debt on course for levels last seen during the World War II era, while a policy shift under way at the Fed will affect new forecasts to be published later this month
• Japan Inc. is pushing back after years of pressure to give bigger pay raises. The BOJ shouldn’t lock itself into monetary stimulus to reach its inflation goal, one of Japan’s largest business groups says, and Yuki Masujima warns that recent moves by the Fed and ECB are revealing the soft underbelly of the BOJ’s framework
• Investors will finally get a comprehensive read of how China’s economy is faring this week, while PBOC chief Yi Gang said he still has some room to cut the amount of money banks must hold in reserve. China’s February price data showed disinflation continues and the risk of manufacturing sector deflation, says David Qu
• Indian lenders haven’t fully passed on the central bank’s latest interest-rate cut to borrowers, pressuring the monetary authority to loosen policy even more to support economic growth
• The odds of another rate increase by the Bank of Thailand in March are low, according to a monetary policy committee member
• Residential skyscrapers are rare in Stockholm, a city permeated by five-story stone buildings from the turn of the last century. But that’s changing right as a prolonged slump grips the property market
• Australia’s government has slipped further behind in opinion polls, which point to victory for the opposition Labor party in elections
• The world economy risks remaining weak for a while longer

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, Jeffrey Black

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