China Sanctions Risk, Fed Bank Caps, Japan Forecast Cut: Eco Day

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

• The U.S. Senate approved a bipartisan measure that would penalize banks doing business with Chinese officials involved in the national security law Beijing is seeking to impose on Hong Kong
• The Fed told the biggest U.S. banks they can’t increase dividends or resume buybacks through at least the third quarter as uncertainty over the course of a global pandemic weighs on lenders
• The Bank of Japan is likely to lower its economic projections again next month as the heavy impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the domestic and global economies becomes clearer
• Indian and Chinese troops remain in a standoff at their contested Himalayan border, days after both sides promised peace following their worst military clash in 45 years
• A downturn in business and investment activity in India deepened in May despite parts of the economy exiting the world’s strictest stay-at-home measures
• Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the U.S. economy will not shut down again, even as a surge of coronavirus cases threatens the country’s economic recovery
• A higher-than-expected number of Americans sought unemployment benefits for a second week, signaling a slowdown in U.S. labor-market improvement. Meantime, more than one-third of America’s lowest-paid workers were laid off during the pandemic-induced recession, about four times the number of job losses experienced by the top earners, research led by Fed board economists shows
• Germany is preparing to strike back against the U.S. if President Donald Trump follows through on his threat to kill off the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline with additional sanctions
• Brazil’s central bank cut its growth forecast for the second time this year, reflecting the coronavirus outbreak’s growing toll
• Singaporeans go to the polls next month ahead of the third change in prime minister in some six decades. And it’s all but certain to be a business-friendly technocrat known to work so hard he was back at his job three months after suffering a stroke in a cabinet meeting

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