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Fed Taper Timing, N.Z. Jobs Surge, More China Pressure: Eco Day

Fed Taper Timing, N.Z. Jobs Surge, More China Pressure: Eco Day

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

  • Fed policy makers are expected to announce they will start scaling back their asset-purchase program amid concern over inflation
    • Bloomberg Economics leans marginally toward a mid-November start for tapering
  • New Zealand’s unemployment rate fell to 3.4% in the third quarter, its lowest in almost 14 years as employment surged
    • New Zealand’s transition to living with Covid-19 could lead to changes in consumer behavior that damp economic growth, the central bank said
  • China’s economy faces new downward pressures and has to cut taxes and fees to address the problems faced by small and medium-sized companies, according to the country’s Premier Li Keqiang.
  • Bond market one, central banks zero. That’s the headline score after a bruising week in global markets forced a policy change in Australia that’s sent ripples across the globe
    • The RBA’s abrupt ditching of its bond target shows the Bank of Japan and other central banks the difficulty of maintaining a yield goal when market momentum builds
  • Japan’s new government and the central bank confirmed their commitment to cooperate on achieving 2% inflation, a move that will likely temper market speculation of an early stimulus exit
  • South Korea’s central bank said it’s on guard against stronger-than-expected price pressures after the fastest inflation since 2012
  • Malaysia is set to keep interest rates at a record low Wednesday
  • Last year the global economy came juddering to a halt. This year it got moving again, only to become stuck in one of history’s biggest traffic jams. Bloomberg Economics looks at the supply chain crisis

     

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