Aurelia Butler

Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis will take part in a joint economic and trade dialogue, meet Chinese officials and European companies active in China and deliver two speeches during his Sept. 23-26 trip to Shanghai and Beijing.For the European Union, the visit is designed to renew dialogue with China after its COVID-19 closure and as EU wariness grows over Beijing’s closer ties with Moscow following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.Dombrovskis will arrive just over a week after the EU executive said it would investigate whether to impose punitive tariffs to protect European producers against cheaper Chinese electric vehicle imports.The enquiry may result in a frostier reception in China, but sources with knowledge of the trip say it could usefully lead to a more focused discussion on “trade irritants”.The EU blames its 400 billion euro ($426.32 billion) trade deficit partly on Chinese restrictions on European companies and says the EU market is largely open.The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in a report on Wednesday that Chinese authorities were sending contradictory messages to foreign businesses. For many, a swift rebound expected after the reopening of China’s borders in January failed to materialise.”Although official announcements aimed at improving the business environment have been released, so has a slew of national security-focused legislation, which has deepened uncertainty and raised compliance risks,” the report said.This includes an anti-espionage law that bans the transfer of information related to national security and interests that it does not specify. It could result in punishments for foreign companies engaged in regular business. The EU is also expected to be asked during the visit to clarify what it means by “de-risk” in the context of China. EU officials say the bloc is seeking to curb its reliance on the world’s second largest economy, particularly for materials and products needed for its green transition, but wishes to retain trade ties.($1 = 0.9383 euros) More

(Reuters) – A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever, financial markets columnist.The Bank of Japan on Friday rounds off one of the most intense weeks in recent memory for central bank policy decisions, with global markets still reverberating from the shockwaves that have followed the Federal Reserve’s ‘hawkish pause’ on Wednesday.World stocks and risk assets tumbled for a second day on Thursday and U.S. bond yields soared to fresh multi-year highs, as investors adjusted to the Fed’s revised rate outlook that hammered home its ‘higher for longer’ stance on interest rates.MSCI’s World Index plunged 1.5% for its biggest fall in six weeks, and its fifth decline in a row marked its worst run since March. MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan index also had its worst day since early August, and Wall Street slumped to a three-month low.In a sign of how much the landscape is shifting HSBC’s fixed income research team led by Steven Major – one of the strongest advocates of a ‘lower for longer’ view on rates and yields – raised its U.S. Treasury yield forecasts on Thursday.Further complicating the picture for investors, however, were the surprisingly dovish decisions from the Bank of England and Swiss National Bank. Both kept rates on hold on Thursday, confounding expectations they would both hike.All eyes now turn to the BOJ.None of the 26 economists polled by Reuters expect any change to its easy stance on Friday but nearly 80% of them said the central bank will also abolish the 10-year yield control scheme by the end of 2024. More than half reckon negative interest rate policy will end next year too.The fog of uncertainty, and pull of opposing domestic and global forces, continue to hold sway over Japanese assets.The 10-year Japanese Government Bond yield hit a 10-year high of 0.75% on Thursday, and while the yen rebounded too, it did so from a new 2023 low of 148.45 per dollar earlier in the day.Speculation that Tokyo will intervene in the FX market to support the yen is unlikely to cool. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday that no option is ruled out in addressing “excessive volatility”, adding that “authorities are in close communication internationally.”While the BOJ’s meeting is the marquee event in Asia on Friday, there is a raft of other indicators that could give local markets a steer, including the latest inflation data from Japan and Malaysia, and New Zealand trade figures.The first purchasing managers index reports for September begin filtering out on Friday, starting with Australia and Japan, then Germany, France and Britain later in the day.Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Friday:- Bank of Japan policy meeting- Japan inflation (August)- Japan, Australia PMIs (September) (By Jamie McGeever; Editing by Josie Kao) More

Here are a few ways Congress might avoid a shutdown:SENATE JAMS THE HOUSEIf the House of Representatives appeared unable to produce any sort of government-funding bill by Sept. 30, the Senate could take matters into its own hands.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer began this process by scheduling the first procedural vote on such a bill for Tuesday evening. But there are many steps ahead, which can be time-consuming unless all 100 senators agree to shortcuts, which they rarely do.Schumer plans to take an already-passed House bill reauthorizing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) programs and replace its language with a new temporary funding bill, which is known as a continuing resolution, or CR.That would get around a constitutional requirement that revenue-related bills originate in the House.The Senate in this scenario would likely aim to pass the retooled measure close – but not too close – to the midnight Sept. 30 deadline so that it can send a CR to the House with little time to spare. It is a move known as “jamming” the other chamber. THE OLD-FASHIONED WAYHouse Speaker Kevin McCarthy could find the sweet spot for a one-month funding deal that his Republicans would embrace.Passage by the Republican-controlled House, where appropriations bills normally originate, would send the stopgap measure to the Democratic-led Senate. It likely would arrive with a tough border-control measure attached, which Democrats oppose. President Joe Biden wants his own temporary border security plan enacted instead. So, once the bill arrives in the Senate, Schumer would be likely to replace the House border security language with Biden’s.Once the Senate passed its temporary spending bill, the House could vote to accept the Senate changes – possibly hours or minutes before the midnight Sept. 30 deadline. Or the House could reject the proposal, triggering a shutdown.MCCARTHY ROLLS THE DICEUnable to get enough far-right conservative Republicans on board, McCarthy could take a big political gamble and send a bill to the House floor that would need Democratic votes to pass. This would anger some House Republicans and possibly prompt them to launch an effort to strip him of his speakership, potentially plunging the Congress into an even deeper crisis.COALITION OF CENTRISTSVarious moderate-to-centrist lawmakers have been huddling privately to see if they can come up with plans to break the House deadlock. For example, the “Problem Solvers Caucus” has produced a framework that would extend current government funding until Jan. 11, 2024, and attach disaster aid, Ukraine aid and some sort of border security measure.THE LONG-SHOTMembers of the House can circulate a “discharge petition” to dislodge legislation from a committee and send it to the full House for a prompt vote.There are difficult and often time-consuming procedural hurdles that would have to be cleared and the majority party in the House – Republicans currently – is often loathe to buck their leadership by joining the minority party in a revolt. More