Kia ora,

Welcome to Friday's Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect New Zealand.

I'm David Chaston and this is the International edition from Interest.co.nz.

Today we lead with news the chronic economic weaknesses from the pandemic aren't going away.

American new jobless claims came in higher than expected at +870,000 last week and higher than the prior week. (Analysts expected +840,000.) Continuing claims were lower by -167,000 in the week as benefits expired for increasing numbers.

Sales of new homes however were a bright spot, surging up to a 14 year high and mirroring the rising activity in the existing homes market. The median sales price of a new home is now US$312,000 (NZ$475,000).

The Kansas City Fed said its regional factory survey shows their expansion continuing but fading. But activity there is still about -20% below the levels of a year ago.

In Washington, the US Treasury Secretary is raising expectations that more fiscal stimulus is possible soon. Wall Street noticed and was up on the expectation. But that expectation is fading fast now.

In Canada, Moody's is predicting average house prices will fall by -6.7% in 2021 as their recovery stalls, economic stimulus fades and debt problems increase. Toronto and Vancouver won't be spared, they say.

This comes as new data shows that employment, earnings and hours worked in Canada have been rising recently.

In Australia, it turns out the huge AU$1.3 bln penalty that their AML regulator hit Westpac with is the world's largest fine anywhere outside of the US. And the regulator says they have another large non-bank institution they are targeting.

In New York, the S&P500 is up +0.1% in early afternoon trade after hopes for some new fiscal stimulus were raised. It was up +0.8% earlier. They follow European markets that were generally lower by about -0.6%. London fell -1.3%. Yesterday Shanghai ended its session down -1.7% and Hong Kong was down -1.8%. Tokyo was down -1.1%. The ASX200 ended down -0.8%, and the NZX50 Capital Index ended down -0.1%.

The latest global compilation of COVID-19 data is here. The global tally is 31,993,000 and up +279,000 in one day. Global deaths now exceed 978,000.

Just under a quarter of all reported cases globally are in the US, which is up +46,000 overnight to 7,159,000. Their death total is now just over 207,000 and back rising at +1000 per day.

In Australia, there have now been 26,983 COVID-19 cases reported, and that is only +10 more cases from yesterday. Deaths are up slightly at 861. Their recovery rate is now just on 90%.

The UST 10yr yield is down -1 bp at just under 0.67%.

The price of gold will start today up by +US$10 at US$1865/oz. And silver has had an outsized gain overnight.

Oil prices have inched up again and are now just under US$40.50/bbl in the US, while the international price is little-changed at just under US$42/bbl.

The Kiwi dollar starts today at 65.6 USc and a small firming overnight. Against the Australian dollar we are also firm at 92.8 AUc. Against the euro we are marginally firmer at 56.2 euro cents. That means our TWI-5 has inched up to 69.2.

The bitcoin price is up +2.1% from this time yesterday, and now at US$10,686.

You can find links to the articles mentioned today in our show notes.

And get more news affecting the economy in New Zealand from interest.co.nz.

Kia ora. I'm David Chaston. We will do this again, on Monday.