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Hunt for Soft Landings, U.S. Jobs, U.K.'s Bad Christmas: Eco Day

Hunt for Soft Landings, U.S. Jobs, U.K.'s Bad Christmas: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Good morning Americas. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help get your Thursday started:

  • China and the U.S. are separately struggling to come in for unparalleled, simultaneous soft landings, an effort complicated by the trade war they’re waging at the same time.
  • How much credit can Donald Trump claim for the best U.S. job market in decades? The president’s actions are more “icing on the cake than a fundamental shift,” according to Bloomberg economist Tim Mahedy
  • A market-soothing set of minutes to the Federal Reserve’s Dec. 18-19 policy meeting raise questions over why investors didn’t get that same message three weeks ago. The summary of the European Central Bank’s latest meeting is also due Thursday.
  • The woes for U.K. retailers are mounting as new report suggests that 2018 was their worst Christmas since the financial crisis.
    • Meanwhile, here’s a look at Brexit’s key question -- where in the world does Britain stand once it leaves the EU?
  • There’s not much economic joy in the euro area either, with a slump in French industrial production adding to a gloomy picture for the bloc
  • Chinese policy makers are continuing their efforts to arrest the slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy, as further details emerged of measures to ensure credit to small businesses and ease their tax burden.
  • Finally, Bloomberg Businessweek asks: if economic expansions don’t die of old age, what kills them?

To contact the reporter on this story: David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net

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