Virus on Powell’s Radar, Mask Mystery, RBI Yield Target: Eco Day

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

• Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell said the bank is keeping a close eye on fallout from the deadly coronavirus outbreak in China, singling it out among risks to the U.S. and world economies
• For factories to reopen and people to get back to work, China needs tens of millions of face masks each day. And yet the country’s bureaucracy is sending out mixed messages about its ability to provide them, writes Bloomberg’s Shuli Ren
• India’s central bank is actively managing bond yields to keep borrowing costs in check after five interest-rate cuts last year failed to spur lending in the economy
• U.S. technology giants face a new wave of scrutiny from antitrust officials, as the Federal Trade Commission demands information about their acquisitions of startups that may have eliminated emerging competitors
• Two top Bank of England officials suggested that the U.K. financial system’s rules may have to diverge from the EU’s after Brexit -- a topic that’s becoming a major point of contention
• U.S. household debt topped $14 trillion for the first time as mortgage originations increased significantly in the final quarter of 2019
• The ECB has set out an ambitious timetable for its strategic review that could see a decision on whether to change its inflation goal by the summer, according to euro-area officials
• Riksbank officials are finding that ending negative interest rates is far easier than convincing people the policy will stick
• Mexico’s central bank is pledging to trim the length of its communications, after years of overloading investors with information in an effort to be transparent
• The latest development in Argentina’s debt struggle does not bode well for either creditors or the country, with the government playing chicken with a debt delay, writes Bloomberg’s Adriana Dupita
• Lebanon needs the help of the IMF to draft a rescue plan and decide whether to repay its $1.2 billion Eurobond maturing next month, according to parliament speaker Nabih Berri

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexandra Veroude in Sydney at averoude4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Jackson at pjackson53@bloomberg.net, Michael Heath

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