RBNZ Hike Query, Red-Hot Economy Worry, China Debt Fix: Eco Day

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

• It took one case of Covid-19 for New Zealand to impose a lockdown -- and for traders to question a rate hike that was seen as a done deal. An RBNZ hike now would be a mistake, says James McIntyre
• If there’s a word that fits how Americans feel about their economy as another pandemic summer draws to a close, it could be: “meh”
• China could be making inroads in a long-standing battle to deal with local governments’ so-called “hidden-debt” as the economy’s rebound gives officials room to focus on tackling financial risks
• Singapore plans pilot programs to let vaccinated business travelers from some countries enter on controlled itineraries next month
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell predicted U.S. students forced to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic will become an “extraordinary generation”
• U.S. retail sales undershot forecasts in July -- supporting Bloomberg Economics’  projections for a softening of consumer spending growth
• Seeking to understand Beijing’s regulatory crackdown, some are looking over 4,500 miles away to an unlikely inspiration: Berlin
• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen rejected criticism that the administration’s two-track legislative push for major spending bills on infrastructure and social programs amount to “overinvesting”
• Euro-area businesses stepped up hiring last quarter when pandemic restrictions started to ease and the economy returned to growth
• The U.S. has frozen nearly $9.5 billion in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank and stopped shipments of cash. Republicans urged Janet Yellen to intervene at the IMF to prevent Taliban-led Afghanistan from being able to use almost $500 million in reserves
• Inflation tops the list of worries for Norway’s wealth fund chief
• Quadratic Capital Management’s Nancy Davis is warning that higher prices and slower growth could result in a return of stagflation
• Meticulously collected data and photographs support scientists’ initial hypothesis that Covid-19 stemmed from infected wild animals

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