U.K. Financial Access, ECB Pledge, Fed Inflation Split: Eco Day

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Happy Friday, Europe. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to take you through to the weekend:

• The EU is unlikely to grant U.K.-based financial firms automatic market access in all areas post-Brexit, according to a top British minister
• The Bank of England pushed back against speculation that a surge in U.K. inflation means it’s preparing to boost interest rates, saying the economy still needs support to recover from the pandemic
• European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel pledged that she and her colleagues will do everything needed to sustain the economic recovery and warned governments not to undermine that by tightening fiscal policy too soon
• Fed officials largely stuck to their script that the burst of inflation the U.S. is seeing as the pandemic recedes will prove temporary
• President Joe Biden agreed a deal with a group of Democratic and Republican senators on a $579 billion infrastructure plan
• China’s central bank is a step ahead of its U.S. counterpart in reining in its Covid-19 emergency stimulus, relieving potential market pressure from the Fed’s looming shift in policy
• China’s recovery is entering a more advanced, stable stage -- but one that will require deft policy management to navigate emerging risks, Bloomberg Economics’ Chang Shu writes
• The European Union imposed a sweeping set of sanctions against Belarus, targeting key economic sectors in its strongest response yet to last month’s forced landing of a Ryanair flight and the arrest of a journalist in Minsk
• The U.K. added Spain’s Balearic islands and Malta onto its quarantine-free “green” travel list, and said rules will be relaxed for more countries later for people who are double-vaccinated against coronavirus
• Mexico’s central bank surprised economists by switching to monetary tightening and delivering a small interest rate increase amid an inflation spike. Traders are taking a much more ardent view
• Australia’s rock lobsters -- a long-prized delicacy among Chinese consumers -- may be finding their way onto mainland menus through a backdoor that circumvents a diplomatic and trading dispute

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With assistance from Bloomberg