Coeure on Negative Rates, BOE Race, EU Tariff Delay: Eco Day

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

• Negative interest rates are not the main culprit for European banks’ feeble profitability, European Central Bank Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said, signaling the institution is in no rush to bring relief
• The race to lead the Bank of England could turn on who heads the government by the time the decision is made in October
• European customers are sourcing outside the U.K., afraid that British exports to the Continent will face customs checks and tariffs—meaning delays and added costs—once the country leaves the EU
• Geneva faces questions about its allure for international businesses and the world’s wealthy. On May 19, the Swiss are set to vote on ditching the special tax breaks that only multinational companies now enjoy, with individual cantons proposing their own lower corporate tax rates
• Richmond Fed chief Thomas Barkin said while he favors keeping interest rates on hold for now, there’s a chance the U.S. could talk itself into recession; Here’s a summary of recent remarks by Fed policy makers
• The escalating U.S.-China trade war is threatening to upend the global economy’s much-anticipated rebound and could even throw its decade-long expansion into doubt if the conflict spirals out of control
• Meanwhile, Trump signed an order to restrict Chinese telecommunication firms Huawei and ZTE from selling their equipment in the U.S. Elsewhere, he plans to give the EU and Japan 180 days to agree to a deal that would “limit or restrict” imports into the U.S. of automobiles and their parts
• Indonesia is set to leave its benchmark rate unchanged as renewed U.S.-China trade tensions roil financial markets and the government struggles to rein in the current-account deficit

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, Devidutta Tripathy

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