Dalio’s World Order, Merkel’s EU Stimulus, Jobless Wave: Eco Day

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

• Billionaire investor and founder of Bridgewater Associates Ray Dalio said he’s working with both historians and political experts to connect pieces of the past together to better understand the future
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s pledge to back a huge stimulus package for the EU wasn’t enough to force through a deal as leaders inched ahead with their reconstruction plans
• The tidal waves of unemployment filings across the U.S. showed only the barest signs of abating as more than 4 million people applied for benefits. Jobless claims have reached a turning point, but there will be more to come, writes Eliza Winger
• China’s uneven reopening is a warning for the world, Stephanie Flanders and Scott Lanman say in this Podcast, noting going back to work seems less scary than shopping or eating out
• Is it enough? Tom Orlik is tracking major economies’ stimulus measures to try and answer the question
• The PBOC will likely roll over only part of the targeted funds due on Friday while letting the rest mature, as a flurry of credit tools have kept liquidity ample
• New Zealand Finance Minister Grant Robertson has downplayed the prospect of the central bank monetizing government debt, saying its approach to quantitative easing is working
• Hong Kong’s small, open economy will be whipped this year by the convulsions in global demand and trade, writes Qian Wan
• Indonesia opted for less punishing social-distancing measures than its neighbors, but analysts are warning it will take much longer to recover than others in Southeast Asia
• Japanese inflation slowed again in March amid the coronavirus hit the economy and slumping oil prices
• U.S. lawmakers overwhelmingly passed and sent to President Donald Trump a $484 billion coronavirus aid package
• The Fed will disclose the names of borrowers from several of its emergency lending facilities backed by U.S. taxpayer money from the $2.2 trillion coronavirus rescue bill
• The price the U.K. is paying for the coronavirus lockdown is becoming clearer as output shrinks at the fastest pace in decades
• Inside the dystopian, post-lockdown world of Wuhan

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