ECB’s Status Quo, Biden Stimulus, Sunak Under Pressure: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Happy Friday, Europe. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help take you through to the weekend.

• The European Central Bank won’t need to boost its monetary stimulus again to pull the euro-area economy out of crisis, according to a Bloomberg survey
• U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will ask Congress for $1.9 trillion to fund immediate relief for the pandemic-wracked economy. Bloomberg Economics looks at what the proposal means for growth
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces a threat to his leadership from rebels in his Conservative Party who are demanding a clear path out of the U.K.’s economically damaging lockdown. Meanwhile, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak came under pressure to step up coronavirus assistance from a powerful bloc of Conservative lawmakers and one of the country’s biggest business groups
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell sought to stamp out talk of a premature reduction in the central bank’s massive bond-buying campaign
• Italy’s embattled government is pushing for an even bigger-than-expected deficit expansion just as the euro-zone’s third-biggest economy reels from a resurgent coronavirus outbreak and a deepening political crisis
• The U.K. government is exploring reforms to workers’ rights that would break from European Union rules, potentially opening Britain up to retaliatory measures from the bloc
• China’s economic ascent is accelerating barely a year after its first coronavirus lockdowns, as its success in controlling Covid-19 allows it to boost its share of global trade and investment
• China’s central bank withdrew cash from the financial system for the first time in six months after excess liquidity pushed an interbank borrowing cost to an all-time low
• Stephanie Flanders and Lucy Meakin discuss the economic fallout from a Covid-driven mental-health crisis in their weekly podcast
• Poland’s finance ministry welcomes the central bank’s attempts to weaken the zloty as the country’s debt pile has become less sensitive to exchange-rate swings

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