Hong Kong Security Law, U.S. Pushes Back, Fed Pausing: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Friday, Asia. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help get you through to the weekend:

• President Donald Trump warned China that the U.S. will respond to a planned move in Beijing to curtail protests and democratic movements in Hong Kong. Two U.S. senators are proposing legislation to punish Chinese entities involved in enforcing proposed new security laws in Hong Kong
• Opposition lawmakers warned that Hong Kong’s status as an international financial center is at risk with China’s new national security law
• The Fed may put off providing further guidance on its interest rate and balance sheet policies until the fall as it grapples with uncertainties, Vice Chairman Richard Clarida suggested Thursday
• The Bank of Japan is widely expected to leave its main stimulus measures unchanged at an emergency meeting Friday as funding for struggling businesses takes center stage in its discussions
• British banks are confronting the European import of sub-zero interest rates that could damage profits already weakened by the coronavirus pandemic as the Brexit divorce rumbles toward its end
• Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the export-dependent economy could see growth slow to a range of 4-5% this year from 6.8% targeted previously as the coronavirus roils the global economy
• U.S. sales of previously owned homes fell in April by the most since mid-2010 as the coronavirus hollowed out demand across the country at the start of the key spring selling season
• Two sizable reporting errors in as many weeks have inflated the U.S. Labor Department’s nationwide jobless-claims count and the number of applicants under a federal emergency program. Meanwhile, millions more Americans applied for unemployment benefits
• The incoming chief economist of the leading multinational organization seeking to help integrate developing nations into the world economy said the era of globalization is probably dead
• In the nights leading up to the biggest Muslim festival of the year, the roads of Kuala Lumpur are quiet. Gone are the teeming crowds of shoppers that usually throng the streets before Eid al-Fitr

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