Hurricane Aid, Europe’s Waning Outlook, Trade Damage: Eco Day

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Welcome to Monday, Americas. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the week.

• President Joe Biden pledged on Sunday to ensure a full recovery for areas hit by Hurricane Ida as the Category 4 storm made landfall in Louisiana. Much of the region is without electricity and bracing for widespread floods and devastation
• The delta variant has muted the progress of the U.S. economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, with consumers putting off some leisure spending and businesses delaying a return to normal operations, according to a number of high-frequency reports that show softness in August
• Global goods trade -- a strong point of the Covid-era economy -- is starting to wither under the supply-chain strains that the Delta variant has wrought. The arduous journey of one humble shipment of fertilizer bound for Chicago highlights the chaos bottlenecks have produced
• Confidence in the euro-area economy slipped for the first time this year in August, suggesting that supply disruptions and the resurgent pandemic risk damping the recovery
• European Central Bank Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said policy makers should take into account more favorable financing conditions in the region when they decide on the pace of emergency bond-buying next week, hinting a slowdown may be in the cards
• China expects shortages of skilled workers will worsen over time as the government develops its high tech industries, focusing attention on the need for better training and education
• Japan’s retail sales rose again in July, indicating that a renewed virus emergency and record infections didn’t deter shoppers much from going out
• Australia’s economy may have shrunk slightly in the three months through June, setting up the bad “optics” of a technical recession when combined with the lockdown-induced contraction expected for the current quarter
• Finally, here’s what’s to look out for in the world economy this week

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