Powell on the Spot, Trade Talks, European Slowdown: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Good morning Americas. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help get your week started:

• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has some further explaining to do after the central bank’s monetary messages whipsawed financial markets over the last month.
  • The Fed chair will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Washington following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.
• The U.S. and China will hold a pivotal round of talks this week in an attempt to end their trade war. Here are three scenarios for how it could play out.
  • As the negotiations continue, corporate executives are increasingly nervous about the global economic outlook as they see threats multiplying from China to trade to Brexit.
  • Also, the World Trade Organization is poised to begin an investigation into President Donald Trump’s tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods.
• The U.S. Treasury Department is set to maintain elevated sales of long-term debt to finance the government’s widening budget deficit, with new issuance projected to top $1 trillion for a second-straight year.
• Europe’s economy is giving the optimists little to work with, and this week’s deluge of numbers won’t shift the needle in their favor.
  • Still, while Germany’s economy may be slowing at the start of 2019, but it isn’t cratering, according to analysis by Bloomberg Economics.
• China is feeling the pain though. In case you’re bewildered about the range of stimulus measures the government in Beijing has rolled out recently, here’s a chronological guide.
• Monday’s data offered little respite. The profits of Chinese industrial companies fell for the second straight month as both factory inflation and economic growth slowed.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net, Brian Swint, Zoe Schneeweiss

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