(Bloomberg) — Welcome to Tuesday, Asia. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:
- Oil went negative for the first time on concerns the world is running out of places to store crude. Traders were willing to pay $40 a barrel just to get somebody to take crude off their hands
- For millions of Filipinos, money sent home by a relative working overseas can make the difference between hunger and survival. This year, those funds may not arrive
- China’s authorities are paying the price for their slow pace of economic reform, complicating efforts to finance stimulus
- The 10-year U.S. breakeven rate plunged back below 1% accompanied by a historic slump in crude oil prices. Here’s an explanation of why deflation is poison for virus-plagued economies
- China’s overall back-to-work rate was between 90-95% in the week ended April 17, writes David Qu, while noting efforts to resume work are running into constraints from a downturn in external demand
- New Zealand’s central bank is proposing to remove mortgage loan-to-value restrictions to allow banks more freedom to keep lending as the nation faces a severe economic downturn
- India’s central bank has a number of policy options to draw upon to cushion the economic blow from the coronavirus pandemic
- Fitch Ratings downgraded Hong Kong as an issuer of long-term, foreign currency debt saying that the city is facing a “second major shock” from the coronavirus after prolonged social unrest last year
- Spain’s economy could contract this year by more than 12% in a worst-case-scenario forecast by the country’s central bank
- The Bank of England’s policy space to heal scars on the economy from the coronavirus is $486 billion, writes Dan Hanson
- A video call between EU leaders on Thursday may fall short of giving investors clarity over how it will finance recovery efforts, risking keeping borrowing costs high across peripheral euro-area countries
- The temporary suspension of certain tariff payments in the U.S. is aimed at helping industries that are facing liquidity issues because of the coronavirus, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said
- One of the Arab world’s most isolated economies is fast succumbing to the coronavirus pandemic and the crash in oil prices
- The Covid-19 crisis has spawned new calls for self-reliance and a repatriation of supply chains from China, driven by a fear that an authoritarian government in Beijing might use its control of medical supply chains to hasten its rise, writes Shawn Donnan
- The virus recession might see record severity and record brevity, writes Carl Riccadonna
