China-U.S. Talks, U.S. Labor Market, Japan Trade Deal: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) --

Welcome to Thursday, Americas. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help get your day started:

• The U.S. labor market is showing weakness. Hiring for temporary-help positions and weekly working hours have declined this year even as unemployment has remained near a half-century low
• China and the U.S. announced that face-to-face negotiations aimed at ending their tariff war will be held in Washington in the coming weeks, as mistrust remains
  • U.S. companies showed widespread concerns about tariff and trade policy uncertainty, but generally reported minimal impact thus far, according to a regional survey from the Federal Reserve
• U.S. negotiators are still thrashing out details of a trade deal with Japan that President Donald Trump wants to sign this month
• The U.S.-Mexico trade agreement dodged a potential political problem for Trump
• Mario Draghi’s bid to reactivate bond purchases in a final salvo of stimulus is being threatened by the biggest pushback on policy ever seen during his eight-year reign as European Central Bank president
  • The hawks on the ECB’s Governing Council will face an uphill battle stopping a reboot of quantitative easing, says David Powell of Bloomberg Economics
• Sweden’s central bank unexpectedly kept plans intact to exit negative interest rates toward the end of the year
• China’s cabinet signaled that a reduction in the amount of funds banks have to hold in reserve is on the way. Bloomberg Economics’ Chang Shu and David Qu write that there’s a lot to be learned from the State Council’s tone
• As global central banks swing back into easing mode, old tools long frowned upon by monetary purists are being embraced to ensure cash goes where it’s needed

To contact the reporter on this story: Eddie Spence in London at espence11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Zoe Schneeweiss at zschneeweiss@bloomberg.net

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