Dollar Supremacy, Fed’s Warning, WTO Chief to Depart: Eco Day

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

• The coronavirus crisis has reinforced the most important vestige of American power in the global economy: the supremacy of the dollar
• The World Trade Organization’s top official, Roberto Azevedo, has told member governments he plans to step down before his term ends in 2021, according to people familiar with the matter
• The U.S. economy faces unprecedented risks from the coronavirus if fiscal and monetary policy makers don’t rise to the challenge, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said while pushing back against the notion of deploying negative interest rates
• Monthly U.S. retail sales dropped in March by the most on record, but a new report by the JPMorgan Chase Institute found that average weekly household credit card spending plummeted a staggering 40% by the end of the month
• Mexico’s famously hawkish central bank is poised to cut interest rates for the third time in two months, accelerating an easing cycle as the country’s economy collapses
• There’s a $17 billion pot of money in the pandemic aid package for companies vital to national security -- and no one seems to want it
• Brazil’s Economy Ministry cut its 2020 growth forecast for the third time this year following unprecedented drops in key activity indicators at the onset of the coronavirus outbreak
• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s choice as central bank chief hits a nerve among women in finance
• Venezuela’s central bank is flooding banks with dollars -- almost $14 million in May -- in an effort to contain a sharp drop in the value of the bolivar
• Finally, don’t miss this week’s episode of the Stephanomics podcast

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