Europe Girds for Worse, Productivity Plunges, Trump-Xi: Eco Day

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

• Germany is sticking to its stance that Europe’s economic engine will pull through its current trough without a spending jolt, countering increasingly dire warnings from the IMF. Meantime, ECB official Robert Holzmann signaled that monetary policy has reached its limit, arguing it’s time for fiscal stimulus
• Productivity in the U.S. unexpectedly posted the first decline in almost four years and labor costs accelerated. The culprit appears to have been gig economy workers, writes Carl Riccadonna
• Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping may not be able to sign a partial trade deal until December, and two U.S. locations have been ruled out for their highly anticipated meeting
• Hong Kong’s leaders are trying to prop up the deteriorating economy with fiscal spending. The problem is they’re doing it on the cheap
• U.S. recession chances have inched down to 26% within the next 12 months, and Chicago Fed chief Charles Evans reckons the three interest-rate cuts this year have left the economy in a good place
• Scott Johnson says his scorecard suggests Argentina and Turkey are most vulnerable to disruption in 2020, with South Africa and Colombia not far behind
• U.K. budget officials are set to deliver a warning shot to politicians on Thursday amid fears that the campaign for the Dec. 12 general election could turn into an arms race of tax and spending promises
• Australia’s property market is taking off again, but with few positive economic spillovers. Just look at the earnings report of the nation’s largest building materials firm
• India announced a 250 billion-rupee ($3.5 billion) fund to salvage stalled residential projects in a bid to reverse slowing growth
• K-Pop’s dark side: assault, prostitution, suicide, and spycams

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, Jason Clenfield

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