Hong Kong Protesting, Sanctions Considered, Good Odds: Eco Day

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

• Hong Kong is bracing for what could be its biggest day of protests in months, with pro-democracy groups calling for a general strike against China’s latest moves to increase control of the city
• The U.S. is considering a range of sanctions on China for its crackdown on Hong Kong, as the Trump administration weighs whether to declare the city has lost its autonomy from Beijing
• Jamie Dimon sees “pretty good odds” of a fast U.S. rebound thanks to the stimulus programs and the strength of the consumer before the pandemic. Meanwhile, St. Louis Fed chief James Bullard sees a rapid rebound pushing the jobless rate below 10% by December
• China’s economy continued its slow recovery in May, with better sentiment among companies tempered by the grim global outlook
• The Bank of Korea is expected to cut its key interest rate to a fresh record low and announce more bond purchases this week as the pandemic takes a toll on exports essential to the country’s economy
• New Zealand’s central bank warned the pandemic presents a significant challenge to the country’s financial institutions, which could be stressed by failing businesses and loan defaults
• One of the Bank of England’s key policy makers played down the possibility of an imminent cut in interest rates below zero, saying that “reviewing and doing are different things”
• The euro-area economy is still facing severe threats even after policy makers took unprecedented measures to tackle the pandemic, according to the ECB. The bank looks set for another testy debate after one policy maker floated the prospect of removing purchase limits
• India’s economy was pushed into a state of dormancy in April as the world’s strictest stay-at-home measures to contain the virus took its toll
• Sweden’s laxer response to Covid-19 gave its citizens more freedom than most. But as other European Union members start to emerge from the worst, Swedes risk being left behind

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