Fed Cut Signals, U.S. Recession Debate, Hong Kong Slump: Eco Day

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

• Fed chief Jerome Powell is expected to deliver the third straight interest rate cut this week -- but the real news will be if he signals the end of the easing cycle or leaves the door open for more
• Powell’s disagreement with Wall Street over recession risks is backed by data showing that much of the talk is concentrated in industries with big megaphones -- manufacturing and banking
• Hong Kong may report negative growth this year as the economy reels from more than four months of social unrest, Financial Secretary Paul Chan wrote
• Ex-BOJ chief Masaaki Shirakawa said he is witnessing a “Japanification” of monetary and fiscal policy in other countries and doubts that low rate and high-debt strategies will work to solve economic problems
• Trade-reliant Thailand said President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend some U.S. trade benefits will affect only a small proportion of its exports
• India can take more steps to be competitive in the global market, such as enforcing contracts, World Bank chief David Malpass said
• Opposition candidate Alberto Fernandez leads incumbent Mauricio Macri in Sunday’s presidential race in Argentina, local TV channel TN reported, citing unidentified voting trends
• Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa reaffirmed a goal of reducing government debt to less than 100% of GDP in the next four years as he was sworn in for a second term
• German exporters are sending slightly encouraging signals that the worst of an industry slump might be behind them
• The canal from the Danube River to the port of Constanta is notorious in Romanian history. Thousands of political prisoners died to start it and a brutal dictator bankrupted the country while finishing it. But 30 years after the end of communism, it’s helped turn one of the EU’s poorest members into its biggest exporter of wheat

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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