Swiss Economy Beats, Liikanen's Chances, Russia's Steps: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Thursday, Europe. Here’s the latest news from Bloomberg Economics:

• In the tussle between the euro zone’s north and south, Erkki Liikanen may boast just the right credentials to become the next president of the European Central Bank
• Swiss out-performance: Switzerland’s economy is showing little sign of taking a hit from the mounting global trade dispute, with growth so far this year coming in far ahead of expectations
• Split down the middle: Economists are finding it trickier to predict the path of Ukrainian interest rates
• Drastic steps: Russia is ready to take the emergency step of buying its own ruble debt if a new wave of U.S. sanctions threatens to upend the market
• On hold: Serbia’s central bank will probably keep its borrowing costs unchanged for a fifth month, extending a pause in monetary easing amid accelerating inflation and forecast-beating economic growth
• Lesson not learnt: What have we learned 10 years after Lehman? Not enough, warns IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde
• Deal or no deal: President Donald Trump said he has finished negotiating a new trade deal with South Korea and may sign it this month; he also said Nafta talks with Canada may progress within days
• No good: While changes to the monetary policy the Bank of Japan laid out in July looked like it had something for almost every palate, it left staunchly reflationist board member Goushi Kataoka unsatisfied
• Feels different: As Indonesia’s currency plunges amid emerging-market turmoil, the 15,000-rupiah world of 2018 looks quite different from that of two decades ago
• Reserve boost: The Philippine central bank plans to gradually bolster its foreign-exchange reserves, its deputy governor said in an interview
• Complicated landscape: It was 20 years ago this week that then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan questioned whether the U.S. could remain an oasis of prosperity in an increasingly fraught world economy. Now Jerome Powell is getting his first crack at that puzzle as emerging markets crumble

To contact the reporter on this story: Anirban Nag in Mumbai at anag8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Karthikeyan Sundaram, Ashutosh Joshi

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