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Powell's Patience, Trade Concessions, All Eyes on Poloz: Eco Day

Powell's Patience, Trade Concessions, All Eyes on Poloz: Eco Day

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

  • Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has a mounting distraction as he tries to engineer a rare soft landing of the economy and extend a nearly record-long U.S. expansion: The man who installed him in the job wants no landing at all
  • The Chinese government said it will extend a suspension of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. autos and include the opioid fentanyl in a list of controlled substances, two steps that could generate a positive atmosphere for trade negotiations due to resume this week
  • America’s wealthiest households are stashing their cash at record levels: The top 1 percent have three times more in readily available cash than the bottom half, with holdings jumping from less than $15 billion shortly before the last recession to a record $303.9 billion at the end of 2018
  • Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz has an opportunity Monday to address market expectations that his next move will probably be an interest-rate cut
  • Global growth has started the year weaker than expected. Bloomberg Economics’ new global GDP tracker puts growth in the first quarter at 2.2 percent, down from 4 percent in mid-2018 and the slowest pace since the great financial crisis
  • Europe’s position as the weak link in the global economy is becoming more entrenched, with a factory slump intensifying at the same time that Asia shows signs of stabilizing
  • Finally, for a glimpse of Brazil’s bureaucracy, step inside a Rio de Janeiro accounting firm that provides tax services to some 200 companies

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

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Brian Swint

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