Fed Confidence, Canada Easing, Doubting Central Banks: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) --

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

• Boston Fed chief Eric Rosengren said the U.S. economy remains “relatively strong” despite clearly heightened risks, leaving him unconvinced on the need for an interest-rate cut. More Fed policy makers are scheduled to speak today.
• The Bank of Canada is expected to open the door further to interest rate cuts at a decision Wednesday, amid worries U.S.-China tensions will curb a relatively robust expansion at home.
• Investors are increasingly signaling they don’t buy the inflation-boosting policies central banks are selling, with some even fretting stimulus may do more harm than good.
• There’s a lot of weight on the shoulders of shoppers around the world, and the strain is starting to show.
• French central bank Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhausignaled skepticism over the need for renewed asset purchases by the ECB.
  • European Central Bank presidential nominee Christine Lagarde pledged to act with “agility” against low inflation, signaling that she intends to follow Mario Draghi’s example. Speaking in the European Parliament she also backed the idea of reviewing the institution’s price-stability target
• U.K. Chancellor Sajid Javid is expected to say that a decade of austerity is over as he hands out extra money for schools, hospitals and policing in his spending review today.
• Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is set to face tough questions on today after Parliament’s Treasury Committee named John Mann as interim chair.
• Economists are downgrading their forecasts for economic growth in China again, to below a level seen as necessary for the Communist Party to meet its own goals in time for its centenary in 2021.

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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