China VAT Cut, Debt Binge Looks Like MMT, U.S. Growth: Eco Day

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

• China is planning to cut the value-added tax rate that covers the manufacturing sector by 3 percentage points as part of measures to support the slowing economy
• Wall Streeters say Jerome Powell is right on Modern Monetary Theory -- the manifesto for free-spending governments is a terrible idea. Yet the $15.6 trillion Treasury market seems as relaxed about budget red ink in practice as the MMTers are in principle
• U.S. economic growth in the first quarter is estimated to slow sharply from the stellar 3.1% pace in 2018, says Yelena Shulyatyeva
• The world’s two largest economies are nearing the finish line on a trade deal that could be signed by Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping as early as this month. But while Trump regularly declares he’s winning his trade wars, evidence is growing that the U.S. economy is a net loser so far
• A European blowup may be the next market surprise, says Milton Ezrati, independent economics and investment strategy consultant and chief economist for Vested
• Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte named his Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno as the new central bank governor in a surprise appointment. Down in Malaysia, the central bank could be the next to steer toward an easing bias
• Robert Shiller, Nobel laureate and professor of economics at Yale University, says if housing dips much more it could trigger unfortunate memories
• Trying to derive a signal from stocks about the future of economic growth? After the last five months, good luck

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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