Fitch’s Hong Kong Downgrade, Draghi’s Final Push: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) --

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

• Fitch Ratings Inc. downgraded Hong Kong as an issuer of long-term, foreign currency debt for the first time since 1995, saying that the territory’s recent political turmoil raises doubts about its governance
• Mario Draghi is expected to go big in a final stimulus push as European Central Bank president, overriding protests from among his ranks that tools such as bond purchases aren’t yet needed
• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has said that he looks to the bond market as a guide to the stance of monetary policy. And what it’s telling him today is that he’s falling behind the curve in cutting interest rates
• Meantime, U.S. jobs data due Friday may be inflated by Census Bureau hiring for the 2020 count, and economists say the underlying numbers may show that job gains are slowing
• The Swiss National Bank’s policy of negative interest rates remains essential and it’s not possible to predict how long such an expansive stance will be necessary, according to President Thomas Jordan
• Japanese households increased spending again in July despite poor weather, further evidence that consumers are on solid footing ahead of a sales tax hike in October
• A weekly wrap of what’s going on in the world economy is here

To contact the reporter on this story: Jiyeun Lee in Hong Kong at jlee1029@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Malcolm Scott at mscott23@bloomberg.net, Karthikeyan Sundaram, Pradeep Kurup

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