U.S. Yield Spike, Xi’s Big Plan, Australia Turns Inward: Eco Day

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

• U.S. Treasuries tumbled anew, driving long-maturity yields to their highest levels this week and pushing up inflation expectations. Tom Orlik looks at the causes and consequences of rising yields
• China begins its biggest political meeting of the year, laying plans that could propel the economy into the world's biggest this decade
• A year of border closures and a successful economic recovery is causing Australia to reassess its embrace of globalization
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the U.S.'s dealings with China the defining test of the century
• There's nothing like a supply shock to illuminate the tectonic shifts in an industry, which is now laying bare the market power of South Korea and Taiwan firms in the $400 billion semiconductor industry
• ECB policy makers are downplaying concerns over rising bond yields, suggesting they can manage the risk with verbal interventions
• The Fed says the U.S. economy expanded modestly in the first two months and sentiment among business owners is picking up as vaccinations bolstered the prospects for economic growth
• Malaysia is likely to keep its key interest rate unchanged Thursday
• British finance minister Rishi Sunak will keep spending big to help the economy through the pandemic crisis, but plans to hike taxes on businesses and more than 2 million people to begin to pay the bill
• India's record pump prices of gasoline and diesel are the newest threat to the economy's nascent recovery
• Even in the 64 countries with pollution falling, it would have to drop 10 times faster to prevent catastrophic, irreversible climate changes

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