Trump Flinches, U.S. Inflation Quickens, Somber Merkel: Eco Day

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

• President Donald Trump bowed to pressure, delaying the imposition of new tariffs on a variety of products until December. Tom Orlik explains why that makes little difference to the broader dispute
• A key measure of U.S. consumer prices unexpectedly accelerated in July in a broad-based advance, signaling inflation may be firming as the Fed debates whether to lower interest rates further. Yelena Shulyatyeva delves into the details
• Chancellor Angela Merkel adopted a more somber tone on the state of Germany’s economy, saying a difficult patch lay ahead that the government may have to react to
• Already hurting from the U.S.-China trade war, Hong Kong’s economy could be facing something much worse than a recession, writes Enda Curran in the latest edition of Terms of Trade
• After two sovereign defaults this century, small business owners in Argentina are well versed in navigating times of crisis. But even they were left floundering by the latest rout
• We forecast annual U.S. GDP growth at about 2% over the next decade as an aging population limits growth potential. A revival in productivity will pull in the other direction, writes Eliza Winger
• Former Fed chief Alan Greenspan says he wouldn’t be surprised if U.S. bond yields turn negative. And if they do, it’s not that big a deal
• The Swiss National Bank may have to do more than pump billions into foreign exchange markets to prevent the franc from appreciating to a damaging level
• Further north, one of the last interest rate hawks could make a stand this week
• Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s staff talk about an imminent U.K. general election as though it were a fact. But it’s still not clear how that will happen

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net

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

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