ECB Today, Powell’s Concern, Global Economy Trade-Offs: Eco Day

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

• The European Central Bank will decide if more than 1 trillion euros ($1.1 trillion) in asset purchases and generous lending plan are enough to keep companies and households afloat
• French GDP contracted 5.8% in the first quarter, heralding what’s set to be Europe’s deepest recession of the postwar era
  • Euro-area GDP is due later today
• Germany—industrial powerhouse, Europe’s biggest economy, and home to the Continent’s finance hub—is among the least carded places in the developed world
• China’s first official data for April suggest the economy has split into two tracks: a domestic rebound undercut by weak overseas demand
• China hands out one million consumption-voucher packages through local governments to get people shopping again. More than 6 billion yuan ($848 million) was distributed across at least 50 cities
• The world is entering a new stage of the crisis as governments inch toward easing restrictions, which will see trade-offs between economic growth and risking another wave of infections and death
• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell voiced concern that the coronavirus crisis could leave permanent scars on the U.S. economy and said all policy makers needed to do more to limit the damage
• The Trump administration is organizing a Manhattan Project-style effort to cut the time needed to develop a coronavirus vaccine, with a goal of making enough doses for most Americans by year-end
• Australia’s central bank opted against buying government bonds, pausing after just under six weeks of commencing the QE program
• South Korea’s parliament approved a 12.2 trillion won ($10 billion) second extra budget in the early hours of Thursday, a significant increase from the government’s initial proposal as a cash handout plan was expanded to cover all households
• Finally, don’t miss this week’s episode of the Stephanomics podcast

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