Brexit-Era Trade, South Africa Budget, Japan's Exports: Eco Day

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

• U.K.’s business secretary said the government is unlikely to reach agreements with Japan and South Korea to roll over existing trade deals ahead of imminent Brexit
• It’s budget day in South Africa. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni will have to balance the demands of a power utility that is struggling to keep the lights on with the need to rein in the deficit and stabilize the nation’s debt
  • Read Bloomberg Economics’ preview of what else to expect
• Spooky data. Japan’s exports were the latest to give a stark reminder of the global economic slowdown underway, recording a second straight monthly drop for the first time since 2016
• Currency pushes. U.S. negotiators are pushing for the Chinese to keep the yuan stable, but it won’t be that easy for the U.S. to restrict China from manipulating its currency because of central-banker tools that interfere, former Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen warned
• Thank you, Fed. The central bank’s dovish shift is one thing supporting Asian financial conditions
• Weird Phillips Curve. The time-tested relationship between unemployment and inflation has broken down all over, but perhaps no more oddly than in Australia
• Mending fences. Malaysia is close to reviving a massive rail project with China that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had said they’d cancel
• Budget battles. There’s a $2.2 billion budget dispute roaring in Norway among the richest Scandinavians

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