Kia ora,
and welcome to Thursday'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 of more evidence of a global slowdown.
American job openings have come in -4% lower in August than the same month a year ago, and an 18 month low. Hiring was lower too, down -1% on the same basis. Their labour market is shifting gears to match the recent weaker underlying economic data.
And that includes wholesale trade which was -0.7% lower in August than the same month in 2018 and inventories are up +6.2% from a year ago. Neither is a healthy signal.
However, not everyone thinks the American economy is turning lower. The Fed chief said overnight it is "in a good place", despite the obvious risks. Fed thinking about where they stand in the policy cycle was revealed with today's release of the minutes from their September meeting. Their main worry is the lack of inflation which is why they cut.
In Mexico, they are proposing a crackdown on tax evaders, especially corporate tax evaders, with penalties as harsh as those for drug offenses.
In China, their shadow banking assets shrank to a three-year low in the first half of 2019 amid a government crackdown on shadow banking.
Japan machine tool orders in September look grim. Overall they took in -35% few orders than a year ago, which is bad enough. But export orders are -41% lower. Because this is high-end product, the levels are ugly.
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The August data for international air cargo traffic is now very gloomy with volumes -4.6% lower than the same month a year ago. It is even worse in the Asia Pacific area which is down -5.8%. North American international traffic is down -4.3% and European traffic down -3.3%. These reversals are sharp from just a few months ago. This data is unlikely to improve in September.
As many countries start unilateral programs to tax the tech giants and other multinational company profits that escape any tax nets, the OECD is moving forward with its "unified" tax proposals, hoping to avoid an international patchwork of individual regimes.
The Westpac MI consumer sentiment index in Australia has fallen hard and is now at a four year low. The leaking away of confidence since the RBA rate cuts is stark - they are doing exactly the opposite of the regulatory intention. Now we have both the business sentiment sinking after the rate cuts, and now consumer sentiment as well. Let’s hope the RBA stops cutting soon.
The UST 10yr yield is up +3 bps to 1.58%.
Gold is up +US$6 to US$1,505/oz.
US oil prices are slightly firmer today at now just under US$53/bbl. The Brent benchmark is just on US$58.50
The Kiwi dollar is marginally softer this morning, now at 62.9 USc. On the cross rates we are at 93.5 AUc. Against the euro we are at 57.4 euro cents. That puts the TWI-5 at just on 68.6.
You can find links to the articles mentioned today in our show notes.
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