U.S.-China Deal, American Jobs, Villeroy on ECB Policy: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) --

Welcome to Friday, Europe. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you get through to the weekend:

• The U.S. and China are finalizing a bevy of long-running corporate deals ahead of a high-profile ceremony to sign a trade deal that the world’s largest economies seek to cast as a major breakthrough
• The U.K. labor market received an election boost in December, with the number of people placed in permanent jobs rising for the first time in a year and business optimism surging
• Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said the European Central Bank should adopt a symmetrical inflation target, staking out his position on a key battleground of its upcoming policy review
• The final U.S. jobs report for 2019 is projected to show payrolls grew almost exactly in line with the average of the decade-long economic expansion
• Federal Reserve policy is appropriate amid solid U.S. economic growth, but there’s a risk that inflation will continue to undershoot the central bank’s 2% target, officials said
• The Bank of Japan has joined other global central banks in studying climate change-related risks, but is unlikely to target bonds supporting environmentally friendly projects anytime soon
• India is considering further opening up its insurance and aviation sectors to foreign investors to help spur the economy, according to people familiar with the matter
• The world economy took a hit after U.S. President Donald Trump launched an airstrike that killed one of Iran’s most powerful generals. Here’s the collection of this week’s analysis, scoops and enterprise from Bloomberg Economics on the fallout

To contact the reporter on this story: Jiyeun Lee in Hong Kong at jlee1029@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Jackson at pjackson53@bloomberg.net, Michael S. Arnold

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