Weidmann Enigma, Trade Finale, Missing Inflation: Eco Day

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

• Leaders wondering whether Jens Weidmann should replace Mario Draghi at the European Central Bank have two competing views of the Bundesbank chief to choose from
• Senior U.S. and Chinese officials are scheduling more face-to-face trade talks in an effort to reach a deal by early May that presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping could sign later that month
• Expectations for a deal are helping to prod global investment banks to dial up their forecasts for Chinese economic growth
• Elsewhere in Asia the picture is mixed. South Korea’s central bank cut its economic growth and inflation forecasts and left its key interest rate unchanged
• Activity in Japan’s manufacturing sector continued to decline this month as a slowdown in global trade and concern over the strength of China’s economy weigh
• If economics were literature, the story of what happened to inflation would be a gripping whodunit
• Still, inflation hasn’t vanished everywhere and is projected to reach an eyeball-popping 8 million percent this year in Venezuela, leaving the nation saddled with the title of the world’s most miserable economy

To contact the reporter on this story: Enda Curran in Hong Kong at ecurran8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Malcolm Scott at mscott23@bloomberg.net, Henry Hoenig

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