RBA Warns on World, Hong Kong Fallout, Ban ‘Down Under’: Eco Day

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

• The Reserve Bank of Australia’s No. 2 official said global firms’ are unlikely to maintain their strong hiring while they stall investment amid the U.S.-China confrontation, pushing the world into an avoidable slump
• His warning comes following another round of bad news highlighting the risk that the global economy is headed for a serious downturn
• Meantime, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard called current U.S. economic conditions “quite good”
• Here’s how hard the protests are slamming Hong Kong’s economy
• When an Australian television show recently referred to unemployed people as “dole bludgers,” the social-media backlash offered a signal for the economy
• Indonesian President Joko Widodo is set to unveil measures to lift Southeast Asia’s largest economy from the stagnation that’s marked his first term
• The Thai government’s pledge to boost the country’s minimum wage is foundering because of an economic slowdown
• The term “Down Under” as a somehow blessed space separate from the realities of the rest of the world really ought to be banished, at least from discussions about economics, argues Daniel Moss

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Bourke in Sydney at cbourke4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Tracy Withers

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