China Shock Result, Fed’s $4.5 Trillion, Japan Playbook: Eco Day

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

• The coronavirus outbreak shuttered many factories, restaurants and shops in China, likely causing the economy to contract. The question now is what might be results of that shock?
• The Fed could now have as much as $4.5 trillion to keep credit flowing and make direct loans to U.S. businesses through the stimulus bill being considered by lawmakers. Meanwhile, here’s how the Fed’s swap lines aim at dollar funding stress
• As global central banks reignite quantitative easing programs or adopt them for the first time, Japan’s key focus of controlling bond yields rather than a quota of purchases is being explored
• The U.S. stimulus package provides aid to small companies and Americans hit hard by the coronavirus, but it won’t prevent a big short-term hit to the economy and a spike in unemployment
• The PBOC cutting its benchmark rates in the near term looks possible. This could facilitate a lower prime loan rate, but the cut by itself does not amount to additional easing, says Chang Shu
• Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s efforts at sandbagging his economy may have come too late and the stimulus unveiled so far is poorly targeted
• India’s nationwide lockdown means the economy faces a serious risk of recession in the quarters ahead for the first time since it liberalized in early 1990s, says Abhishek Gupta
• ECB policy makers are open to activating their most powerful bond-buying tool if needed, according to people familiar
• Germany is considering a “timely, targeted and temporary” stimulus plan to revive growth once the coronavirus epidemic subsides
• Prime Minister Scott Morrison is trying to thread the needle as he battles to save the economy as coronavirus cases surge in Australia. Leaders the world over are discovering something may have to give
• President Donald Trump wants to re-open the U.S. economy by mid-April but Americans may take some persuading that it’s safe to emerge, said St. Louis Fed chief James Bullard. Here are all the U.S. central bank’s Corona-related moves
• In economics, there is no Hippocratic oath: First, do no harm. If there were, world leaders would be in serious violation of it

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