Powell’s Taper Future, Phantom Stimulus, N.Z. Jobs Boom: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Wednesday, Asia. Here's the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:

• Jerome Powell doesn't want to talk about scaling back massive Fed asset purchases -- at least not yet -- but it's only a question of time before the discussion resumes and that might not be a bad thing
• Should we worry that a major stock market correction could seriously dent the recovery? Carl Riccadonna thinks the answer is no
• New Zealand unemployment unexpectedly dropped last quarter
• Mario Draghi, the former ECB president, has been approached to become Italy's next prime minister in a bid to steer the virus-battered country out of its worst recession since World War II
• China is staring down another liquidity test just days after fending off its worst cash crunch since 2015
• South Korean President Moon Jae-in is urging corporate winners of the pandemic to share some of their profits with smaller businesses
• President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Senate Democrats that a Republican stimulus counterproposal is too small
• The euro-area economy shrank less than expected at the end of 2020
• Racial and gender disparities have resulted in growing losses to the U.S. economy that amounted to $2.6 trillion in 2019
• Thailand will likely hold its key interest rates steady and let fiscal policy take the lead. Meantime, the resort island of Phuket is drawing up plans to fully reopen to vaccinated visitors by October
• Over in Hokkaido, two fishing villages are vying to host the final storage facility for half a century of Japanese nuclear waste
• Supporters of the military rallied in Myanmar's largest city as it moved to suspend all flights. Now that the generals have ousted Aung San Suu Kyi, they must figure out how to beat her in an election

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