Fed Preview, Abe's Spending Dilemma, China's Tech Race: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Thursday, Asia. Here’s the latest news from Bloomberg Economics:

• Fed officials will likely use this week’s meeting to ponder broader policy questions with interest rates likely on hold, says Carl Riccadonna
• With Shinzo Abe determined to increase the sales tax, Japan is testing public reaction to a string of potential measures to maintain spending
• Foreign firms in China face rising competition from domestic players in advanced sectors they once easily dominated. Meantime, China’s foreign currency holdings shrank again in October in response to a rising dollar
• President Trump may be encouraged to pursue more protectionism and could get a hand from Democrats on his trade agenda
• Meanwhile, Australia effectively told China not to bother bidding for gas pipelines after knocking back a $9.4 billion offer citing security concerns
• New Zealand held rates at a record low and removed references to a cut as a tight labor market suggests faster inflation could be in the offing
• Brazil central bank President Ilan Goldfajn can stay in his current post if he wants to, President-elect Jair Bolsonaro said, as congressional leaders mulled granting the monetary authority formal autonomy
• The European Central Bank nominated veteran regulator Andrea Enria to become the second-ever head of its supervision arm, and in doing so effectively put its diversity agenda at the bottom of the drawer
• China’s grand online vision -- heralded with the first World Internet Conference in 2014 -- now rings hollow as censorship spreads further

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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