French Growth Slide, Great Rate Debate, U.S.-China Chat: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) --

Welcome to Tuesday, Europe. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help get your day started:

• French second-quarter economic growth showed a negative surprise, adding to euro-area worries particularly in its largest economy, Germany
• Central bank watch. Russia’s economy minister issued a stark warning about what’ll happen if his central bank doesn’t act, and Mexico’s AMLO says he wants policy makers to cut interest rates, though rate cuts have a dark side, too
• Rate-cut debate. The Bank of Japan held pat Tuesday while trimming its inflation forecasts, opting to wait and see in advance of the Federal Reserve decision Wednesday in Washington; President Donald Trump weighed in on the Fed again, saying “a small rate cut is not enough”
• Other big risk. The U.S. and China struggled to get trade talks back on track this week in Shanghai; tensions were evident in the data Tuesday, with Japanese factory output plunging to its weakest since the start of 2017
• Against the tide. Spurning a populist wave across Europe and the world, Portugal is calling for more immigrants to bolster its economy

To contact the reporter on this story: Michelle Jamrisko in Singapore at mjamrisko@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Michael S. Arnold

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