Fed Independence, U.S.-Japan Trade Chat, Cain’s Trouble: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Go inside the global economy with Stephanie Flanders in her new podcast, Stephanomics. Subscribe via Pocket Cast or iTunes.

Happy Friday, Americas. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help get your day started and send you into the weekend:

• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell asserted the central bank’s independence in remarks to Democratic lawmakers, telling them the Fed doesn’t consider political pressure in any way, according to two people in the room for the closed-door event
  • Economists at Goldman have pushed back their forecast for the Fed to raise interest rates amid low inflation and political scrutiny of the central bank’s decisions
  • The White House’s latest pick for the board is in jeopardy
  • Here’s what Trump can (and can’t) do to steer Fed policy
• Japan is finally stepping into the ring for a fight it had managed to dodge for more than two years: Bilateral trade talks with U.S. President Donald Trump
• The U.K.’s Brexit extension looks set to keep the Bank of England stuck on pause for many months to come
  • That means BOE Governor Mark Carney will depart the central bank before the next rate increase, according to Bloomberg Economics’ Dan Hanson
• China’s exports rebounded after the Lunar New Year holiday amid a pickup in trade talks optimism, while a continued slide in imports underscored the fragility of the domestic economy
• Here’s everything you might’ve missed in the global economy this week

To contact the reporter on this story: Zoe Schneeweiss in London at zschneeweiss@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.