Dot-Plot Misfire, Yuan Stability Demand, German Surveys: Eco Day

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

• How do you talk about your best guess for where the economy is headed while also highlighting your worst fears? That’s the challenge for Fed chief Jerome Powell. Meanwhile, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said she’d favor ending the run-off of assets from the central bank’s balance sheet this year
• The U.S. is asking China to keep the value of the yuan stable as part of trade negotiations, a move aimed at neutralizing any effort by Beijing to counter American tariffs. But former Fed Chair Janet Yellen signaled that may be harder than U.S. trade negotiators think
• As Germany grapples for growth, business surveys have been put into sharp focus -- this week sees the publication of the ZEW, PMI and Ifo statistics. But not all of them are equal, says Jamie Murray
• The traditional relationship between inflation and employment has faltered in much of the developed world -- particularly in Australia where it has seen an unprecedented breakdown in recent years
• Financial conditions across Asia are getting easier, helped by a stock market rally, falling bond yields and a dovish shift from the Fed. In Singapore, an expansionary budget for the coming year makes the central bank’s April policy decision slightly more complicated
• The Bank of Japan should do more to limit risk in the financial system as regional lenders struggle to maintain profitability under prolonged monetary stimulus, according to a former BOJ official
• Lebanon has nominated investment banker Ziad Hayek to be head of the World Bank, the first challenge to President Donald Trump’s pick for the development lender

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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