Trade Deal Signed, Fed Lifting Assets, Putin 2024 Play: Eco Day

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

• The U.S. and China signed the first phase of a broader trade pact amid persistent questions over whether President Donald Trump’s efforts to rewrite the economic relationship with Beijing will ever go further. Here are five key points from the deal
• The Fed’s low interest rates, the perception that there is a high bar to future rate increases and expansion of its balance sheet are helping to lift asset prices, Dallas Fed chief Robert Kaplan said
• President Vladimir Putin replaced his long-serving prime minister and called for sweeping constitutional changes, fueling speculation that the Russian leader is moving to extend his grip on power beyond the end of his term in 2024. Leonid Bershidsky sifts through the events and Scott Johnson runs the economics
• Trump appeared to regret passing over former Fed governor Kevin Warsh in favor of appointing Jerome Powell as chairman, while repeating his lament about the dollar’s strength and praising the use of negative interest rates in Europe
• The U.S. economy was growing at a modest clip as 2019 drew to a close, while a deterioration in manufacturing employment belied overall tight job market conditions, a Fed survey showed
• The path to a BOE interest-rate cut as soon as Jan. 30 became clearer after inflation unexpectedly slowed to a three-year low
• The Trump administration plans to promote Brazil’s bid to join the OECD, reversing a previous commitment to give priority to Argentina’s candidacy
• Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is set to visit India next week, aiming to boost trade as ties with neighboring Argentina deteriorate
• Germany’s economy made a slight recovery in the fourth quarter, ending a year in which manufacturing took a battering and the country was dragged to the brink of a recession
• The Swiss National Bank retains the ability to wage currency market interventions if necessary, according to one of its officials
• Half a year into his job leading the Turkish central bank, Murat Uysal might finally reveal where his priorities lie. Meantime, Turkey’s top Islamic authority is challenging 1,400 years of religious thinking, with a new ruling on high interest loans
• The planet is warming faster than at any time in the history of civilization. Five independent assessments each concluded that last year was the second hottest in 140 years of data. Meantime, a export critical route for American coal to Asia is drying up after yet another U.S. city passed a law to bar coal from leaving its shores

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