Fed's Soft Underbelly, U.K. Sales, Weidmann Support: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Good morning Americas. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help get your day started:

• U.S. President Donald Trump has attacked the soft underbelly of the Federal Reserve’s campaign to raise interest rates, exposing what Fed Chair Jerome Powell himself probably recognizes is a potential vulnerability
• The U.S. spared all countries, including China, the “currency manipulator” tag in the latest Treasury report on foreign currencies
  • Meanwhile, Trump has plans to withdraw from an international shipping treaty that gave some discounted rates for imports of Chinese goods and China’s factory heartland is bracing for a bigger tariff hit
• U.K. retail sales fell more than economists forecast last month as food spending slumped the most in almost three years
• Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann has the backing of his Austrian counterpart to succeed Mario Draghi as European Central Bank chief
• The Bank of Korea opted Thursday to hold interest rates steady amid a basket of external and domestic risks
• Russia’s years of loose monetary policy triggered a mortgage boom, but very few homes
• South Africa’s recession is hurting more than just South Africans, with neighboring countries that are pegged to the rand feeling the burn also
• Finally, here’s what to watch for in tomorrow’s Chinese growth data

To contact the reporter on this story: David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net

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