U.K. Debt, Powell on Fed Framework, South Korea Cases: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Friday, Europe. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help take you through to the weekend.

• U.K. government debt passed the 2 trillion pound ($2.6 trillion) mark for the first time, a milestone that will stoke the debate over how the country will finance its unprecedented support for the pandemic-ravaged economy
• U.K. retail sales rose more than economists forecast, giving a battered sector a brief respite from a litany of bad news
• Jerome Powell will deliver a speech at next week’s annual Jackson Hole symposium on the Fed’s long-awaited monetary policy framework review, which has focused on a new inflation strategy
• The new head of Ukraine’s central bank rejected concerns that his arrival raises the risk of government meddling in monetary policy -- something that could jeopardize billions of dollars of foreign aid
• A surge in South Korea’s coronavirus cases is bringing the nation closer than ever to a lockdown, threatening to derail its economic recovery
• Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly increased, a stumble for the labor market in its long road to recovery
• Japan’s restarting of economic activity wasn’t enough to buoy core inflation in July
• China confirmed plans to talk with U.S. officials soon to review progress on their preliminary trade deal, in a rare engagement after months of tensions
• India’s interest rate-setting panel turned cautious about a recent surge in consumer inflation, preferring to wait for price pressures to wane before unleashing more steps to address a sharp slowdown
• ECB policy makers expressed uncertainty at their latest policy meeting about the economic outlook and the extent to which they’ll have to deploy monetary stimulus
• Canada plans to extend emergency income support for another four weeks, beef up an employment insurance plan and introduce new programs in an effort to keep stimulus flowing into the economy
• Millions of migrant workers made arduous journeys to their villages after India imposed the world’s largest lockdown in March. Many say caste discrimination is reversing
• A new national campaign against food waste in China has sparked a rare bout of speculation over the government’s ability to safely feed its 1.4 billion citizens when faced with floods, epidemics, locusts and rising tensions with some of its biggest trading partners

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With assistance from Bloomberg