China Virus Hit, Tough Fed Choice, N.Z. Rate-Hike Talk: Eco Day

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

• China’s broadest Covid-19 outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic in late 2019 is hampering tourism and spending during the peak summer holiday, adding another risk to the economy
• President Joe Biden has a tough decision in choosing the next Fed chair: Play it safe by giving Jerome Powell a second term or take a chance on a liberal like Lael Brainard, who would please progressives in Congress yet potentially agitate Wall Street
• New Zealand’s unemployment rate fell more than forecast as the economy’s recovery boosted hiring and began to stoke wage inflation, intensifying bets on higher interest rates
• Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong again warned the U.S. and China to deescalate tensions, saying both powers presumed incorrectly they would win in any conflict
• A wrap of Bloomberg Economics’s coverage including China’s delta risk and the RBA pushing ahead with taper plans
• The Bank of Thailand is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low amid a raging Covid outbreak
• The lone dissenter on the Bank of Korea board who last month called for an interest rate hike appears to have gotten signals of support from others in the seven-member group
• The technological level of China’s exports increased through the trade war with the U.S., a new ranking shows, predicting the Chinese economy will grow faster than India’s over the next decade
• The semiconductor shortage and other supply chain troubles will be a focus of Vice President Kamala Harris’s trip to Southeast Asia
• The U.K. told the UN United Nations Security Council that Iran was probably behind the deadly drone attack on an Israel-managed tanker off the coast of Oman last week

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