Powell on Progress, RBA to Defer Taper, Treasuries Risk: Eco Day

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

• Fed officials are moving closer to when they can start reducing massive support. The FOMC is still assessing whether “substantial further progress” has been met, says Bloomberg Economics
• The RBA is likely to push back its planned taper of bond buying as prolonged lockdowns look set to send the economy back into reverse
• A panel of ex-global economic policy makers warned that major trading disruptions in U.S. Treasuries are likely to increase. Even Jerome Powell can’t figure out why U.S. Treasury yields are tumbling
• The best growth of the expansion is likely behind the U.S. just as the world’s largest economy reclaims its pre-pandemic level of output
• Thailand risks its first double-dip recession since the Asian crisis
• Soaring home prices are stoking anger against South Korea’s president, with middle-class voters saying government policies have created a class of “overnight beggars”
• India’s economy showed signs of cooling on the slow easing of lockdowns, a factor likely to keep interest rates at record lows
• Herd immunity may buoy Singapore GDP from September, writes Tamara Mast Henderson. Meantime, Singapore’s central bank head is taking on thorny political issues like other developed-world peers
• U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo dismissed the idea that the recent inflation surge will persist
• Bloomberg Economics reckons China’s June readings reinforce the view that the RRR cut in mid-July was a preemptive move
• Asia’s virus stars are sliding in the ranks of best Covid places to be

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