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Asia Factories, U.K. Confidence, Riksbank Challenge: Eco Day

Asia Factories, U.K. Confidence, Riksbank Challenge: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Monday, Europe. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the week:

  • Factory output across several Asian countries slumped to record lows in April, signaling a deeper contraction in the world’s manufacturing hub even as China begins restarting some operations
  • U.K. business confidence slumped the most on record last quarter as financial leaders said they see no quick recovery from the coronavirus downturn. A shopkeeper knows why Britain’s business rescue fell flat
  • Sweden’s central bank may need to have some of its age-old laws changed if it’s to act on a pledge to do “whatever it takes”
  • The trade agreement President Donald Trump signed with China has gone from a cornerstone of his re-election bid to a potential political liability as the pandemic sours their relationship
  • Italy’s move to restart the country threatens to create a new divide: between businesses allowed to reopen and those that have to wait
  • Forecasting GDP in the midst of a once-a-century global pandemic is, it turns out, not easy to do, writes Tom Orlik. Bloomberg Economics’ forecast for 2020 global growth has fallen from 3.3% before the outbreak, to -4% as lockdowns cratered activity
  • Even a calamity of disease, death and economic destruction afflicting the world all at once isn’t enough to suppress the notion in some quarters that inflation could return with a vengeance
  • The U.K. risks failing to recruit the 50,000 customs agents the logistics industry says are needed before Britain’s final parting with the European Union
  • Turkish inflation probably had its sharpest deceleration in months, as declines in oil prices and pandemic-hit demand made up for the damage from declines in the lira
  • Hong Kong is on course for a recession potentially worse than the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s, with the trade-dependent city expected to reveal that the slump deepened markedly
  • Here is a wrap of what’s coming up in the world economy this week

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