Fed to Tap Brakes, ECB September Stimulus, China Reform: Eco Day

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

• The Fed will cut interest rates next week and again later this year, but it is not entering an extended cycle of easing monetary policy
• Mario Draghi set the stage for the ECB to deliver another round of stimulus in September to combat the euro area’s severe slowdown
• The People’s Bank of China has indicated it’s getting ready to liberalize its system of interest rates, probably this year, in what would be another milestone in the landmark reforms started four decades ago to loosen state control of the economy
• Singapore rose to be one of the world’s most advanced cities by using its position as a trading hub to attract technology and investment. Now, caught in the squalls of a shift in global trade and technological change, the nation is pouring money into ideas that could define the way cities are built and run in future
• Central banks stole the limelight again, while economic growth data aren’t seeing relief and the on-again, off-again relationship between the U.S. and China prepares for its next encounter, writes Michelle Jamrisko in her wrap of the week. Meantime, China approved several domestic companies to buy U.S. cotton, corn, sorghum and pork without being subject to hefty retaliatory tariffs
• Trade tensions likely helped push down U.S. growth to match the slowest pace of Donald Trump’s presidency. At the same time, Carl Riccadonna writes that factory-sector gloom is ebbing, durable goods orders are showing. The U.S. lower house passed a two-year debt ceiling extension and budget bill Thursday in a bipartisan deal backed by Trump that will lessen the chance of a shutdown and put any risk of a government default off until after the 2020 election
• The scale of Boris Johnson’s challenge to break Britain’s political deadlock was laid bare as the EU rejected his demands for a better Brexit deal. One contender to be BOE governor tipped by bookmakers could augur a rather different way of thinking at the institution as pro-Brexit economist Gerard Lyons became the frontrunner
• Canadians are starting to see a pickup in their wages, a positive sign for the domestic economy amid growing global uncertainty
• India’s plan to sell its first overseas sovereign bonds is becoming mired in confusion within weeks of the announcement
• Hong Kong has appointed a veteran central banker as the next chief executive of its monetary authority, signaling continuity remains the priority as the city faces ongoing political turmoil
• Tokyo’s key inflation gauge, considered an early indicator for nationwide price moves, held steady in July, topping expectations
• Australia has a record trade surplus that Trump would admire. But as its export cup runneth well over imports, the economy is sputtering toward the weakest fiscal-year expansion since a 1991 recession. The lesson: The link Trump likes to make between a nation’s trade balance and its economic strength is tenuous at best
• Getting old can be hard under any circumstances, and harder still when you’re poor. That’s the predicament for Thailand, the developing country first in line to face the consequences of a first-world-style baby bust

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net

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