U.S. Xinjiang Ban, New Zealand Negative, Johnson Threat: Eco Day

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

• The Trump administration banned imports from three companies in the Xinjiang region of China and plans to add curbs on six more firms and target cotton, textiles and tomatoes from the area
• New Zealand’s central bank is eying Sweden as a roadmap for negative interest rates to support its recession-hit economy
• Boris Johnson’s threat to break international law over Brexit was slammed by members of his own party, who warned it will damage the U.K.’s global standing. Meanwhile on the virus front, Johnson is set to announce bans on social gatherings of more than six people in England
• AstraZeneca Plc said that it had paused research on its experimental coronavirus vaccine after a person who was participating in a clinical trial became ill
• The U.S. economy extended its gradual recovery, but remains far below its pre-pandemic strength. Here’s how Bloomberg is tracking the high-frequency data
• China’s latest high-frequency indicators suggest the economy continued to inch forward in late August to early September, but weakness in employment remains a concern, writes David Qu. Meantime, here’s how China is closing in on its own digital currency
• The Bank of Canada will probably brush off the economy’s stronger-than-expected rebound and stick to its narrative of a long and bumpy recovery that will require extraordinary support for years to come
• South Korea’s unemployment rate unexpectedly fell for a third month in August, despite the reintroduction of tighter social distancing rules
• New Zealand’s recovery stands to get support from a pre-pandemic public spending boost aimed at addressing longstanding shortfalls in infrastructure, but the challenge will be promoting capital formation for sustaining healthy growth over the long term, writes James McIntyre
• Thailand’s outgoing central bank governor said public debt restrictions should be eased to allow the government to spend more as monetary policy options dwindle
• President Donald Trump’s moves to prevent some of China’s biggest companies from accessing the private data of Americans -- set to take effect this month -- are already impacting corporate deal-making and geopolitics

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