What to Watch in China, Factory Slump, Asia's Top Hiker: Eco Day

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

• With all eyes focused on crucial China-U.S. trade talks, it’s easy to forget that the performance of the world’s second-biggest economy will also be determined by other key drivers this year. Here are the five areas to watch
• Meanwhile, U.S. government officials are publicly withholding judgment on China’s efforts to ease trade tensions ahead of talks next week, raising the prospect that Beijing’s latest economic-reform announcements won’t go far enough to satisfy President Trump
• Manufacturing gauges across the world’s largest economies stumbled at the end of last year, starting 2019 with fresh challenges for global growth and central banks
• After a year firefighting an emerging-market rout, Indonesia’s central bank is signaling it’s not yet ready to take its foot off the interest-rate pedal in 2019
• The People’s Bank of China said it’ll adjust the calculation of some banks’ reserve ratios, a move aimed at boosting the impact of a previous easing step as the economy slows
• Sound familiar? Brazil’s new economy minister has outlined a sweeping overhaul of the country’s state apparatus and business environment, taking aim at “creatures from the political swamp”

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