U.K. Housing, Yellen’s Debt Call, Powell’s Challenge: Eco Day

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

• The U.K. housing boom is showing signs of stabilizing, with a 14% increase in the number of properties listed for sale in the first two weeks of September.
• Meantime, soaring property prices are forcing people all over the world to abandon all hope of owning a home. The fallout is shaking governments of all political persuasions
• The Swedish economy is robust enough to withstand the effects of the energy crunch that has gripped Europe and filtered into Scandinavia, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said
• The Czech central bank shouldn’t increase interest rates as higher borrowing costs sap the investment needed to help the economy recover from the pandemic, according to Finance Minister Alena Schillerova
• A former Bank of England chief economist will lead Boris Johnson’s bid to “level up” every part of the U.K. by raising living standards
• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen renewed her call for Congress to raise or suspend the U.S. debt ceiling, saying the government will otherwise run out of money to pay its bills sometime in October
• In the Year of the Taper, it’s the fiscal version that will really bite. The cutback of the U.S. government’s budgetary support has been obscured by the market chatter about the Federal Reserve’s yet-to-be-announced reduction of bond purchases
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell faces a communication challenge as he leans toward paring back stimulus while trying to avert speculation that such a shift presages future interest-rate increases
• The latest high-frequency data from China suggest further weakness in demand, extending a slowdown that was evident in the August activity data. Bloomberg Economics’ David Qu writes
• The Bank of Korea’s gradual policy normalization will see interest rate reaching 2.25% by late 2024 from the current 0.75%, according to Goldman Sachs

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