Hong Kong Autonomy Revoked, Fed Yield Target, EU Rescue: Eco Day

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

• The Trump administration said it could no longer certify Hong Kong’s political autonomy from China, a move that could trigger sanctions and have far-reaching consequences on the former British colony’s special trading status with the U.S.
• New York Fed President John Williams said policy makers are “thinking very hard” about targeting specific yields on Treasury securities as a way of ensuring borrowing costs stay at rock-bottom levels. The coronavirus deeply damaged the U.S. economy, with “steep” job losses and business closures, a new Fed report said
• The EU has stepped back from the brink. Again
• At least 49 million people across the world are expected to plunge into “extreme poverty” as a direct result of the pandemic’s economic destruction. India’s citizens will be worst hit
• Prime Minister Shinzo Abe doubled Japan’s stimulus measures as he looked to deliver on his bold promise to keep businesses and households afloat with the world’s biggest virus-response package
• Germany and France stand out in terms of the pace of recovery. Japan, which is managing its outbreak with relatively light lockdown controls, is also doing better than most, write Bjorn van Roye
• The global economy could be in for a bumpy ride as lockdowns tied to the Covid-19 pandemic begin to ease, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. President John Waldron said
• Central banks must be careful that their extraordinary measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic don’t morph into improper government financing, according to two former policy makers
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU has a “great strategic interest” in maintaining cooperation with China in the face of a widening list of grievances with the government in Beijing
• The coronavirus outbreak is hitting the young “harder and faster than any other group,” with a risk of scarring them for their working lives, according to the ILO
• India has moved additional troops along its northern border as it prepares for an extended conflict with China, after several rounds of talks failed to ease tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals

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