Reopening Reversed, Brazil’s Inequality, USTR Ethics: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Friday, Americas. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help get you through to the day:

• U.S. governors are reversing plans to reopen their states as the country registered the biggest-ever jump in coronavirus cases, in a growing recognition that the contagion is increasingly dictating events in much of America
• For Black Brazilians, Covid-19 is deepening painful inequalities
• Two former officials who helped negotiate an overhaul of North American trade rules may have violated federal ethics standards when they sought private-sector consulting work while still on the government payroll, according to a complaint filed Thursday by a watchdog group
• Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said he will set an “exceptionally high” bar for companies seeking taxpayer-funded bailouts during the coronavirus pandemic as he prepares to set out measures to revive the economy next month
• Companies are lapping up the cheap cash on offer in the euro area but no one should be fooled into thinking that will fuel a robust recovery from the coronavirus crisis
• European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic will be “restrained” and will change parts of the economy permanently
• The speed of the social and economic destruction wrought by the coronavirus pandemic is spurring central bankers to accelerate and expand their efforts to fight climate change
• The Bank of Japan is likely to slash its economic forecasts amid the crisis while Tokyo’s near-zero inflation shows consumers are slow to return even after the city’s emergency has ended
• India mulling higher tariffs on China would add further negatives to both economies amid a broader geopolitical tussle, Bloomberg Economics analysis shows

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.