Powell on Fed Framework, Jobless Jump, China-U.S. Talks: Eco Day

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

• Jerome Powell will deliver a speech at next week’s annual Jackson Hole symposium on the Fed’s long-awaited monetary policy framework review, which has focused on a new inflation strategy
• Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly increased, a stumble for the labor market in its long road to recovery
• China confirmed plans to talk with U.S. officials soon to review progress on their preliminary trade deal, in a rare engagement
• A group of former Fed officials and staffers, including former Vice Chairman Alan Blinder, published an open letter calling on the U.S. Senate to reject President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judy Shelton to the central bank’s Board of Governors
• India’s interest rate-setting panel turned cautious about a recent surge in consumer inflation, preferring to wait for price pressures to wane before unleashing more steps to address a sharp slowdown
• The Philippine central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged as it watches how previous easing steps filter their way through an economy mired in its worst crisis in decades
• Kim Jong Un issued a dire warning for North Korea’s economy amid reports that he delegated some power to his sister, including responsibility for relations with the U.S.
• ECB policy makers expressed uncertainty at their latest policy meeting about the economic outlook and the extent to which they’ll have to deploy monetary stimulus
• U.K. consumer confidence remained weak in August as the specter of unemployment hung over the British economy
• Canada plans to extend emergency income support for another four weeks, beef up an employment insurance plan and introduce new programs in an effort to keep stimulus flowing into the economy
• Millions of migrant workers made arduous journeys to their villages after India imposed the world’s largest lockdown in March. Many say caste discrimination is reversing
• A new national campaign against food waste in China has sparked a rare bout of speculation over the government’s ability to safely feed its 1.4 billion citizens when faced with floods, epidemics, locusts and rising tensions with some of its biggest trading partners

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