ECB Cavalry, G-7’s $2.5 Trillion QE, Australia’s Closed: Eco Day

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

• The European Central Bank is on the verge of finally getting proper help from politicians to fight the region’s economic battles, even if it stays alone on the front line for now
  • European funding markets have thus far been stubborn in correcting, but that may change when a new ECB loan facility is allotted Wednesday
• U.K. inflation slowed to the weakest level since 2016 in April as energy prices fell and the coronavirus lockdown put the brakes on economic activity
• The dry spell that’s scorching parts of the European Union’s eastern wing is devastating harvests and exacerbating the region’s deepest economic downturn since the fall of communism
• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell sought to maintain neutrality in the debate over whether Congress should build on record stimulus
• President Donald Trump announced rules for a $19 billion coronavirus farm aid package
• Meet the people needed to keep the post-Covid economy running
• Australia’s success in curbing infections is allowing it to ease restrictions while staying largely closed off from the rest of the world, taking its economy back to the pre-globalization era
• Central banks have taken extreme steps to support growth and financial stability. Across the Group of Seven, net purchases so far add up to $2.5 trillion, and there’s more to come, Tom Orlik writes
• China’s National People’s Congress, scheduled to begin Friday, is likely to signal stronger fiscal support for the economy but forgo setting a numerical growth target, Chang Shu writes
• The U.S. Labor Department said Tuesday it will permanently end giving news media early looks at market-moving economic data, after suspending the pre-briefings during the coronavirus pandemic
• U.S. births dropped to their lowest level in 35 years

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