(Bloomberg) – China’s economic recovery is threatening to falter after this week’s numbers showed a further contraction in manufacturing and weaker services activity.
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In the US, job growth and employer vacancies exceeded forecasts, underscoring a continued robust labor market that is strengthening the world’s largest economy.
While inflation in Europe has cooled more than forecast, stubborn price pressures are likely to prompt central bankers to push higher interest rates.
Here are some of the charts that appeared on Bloomberg this week on the latest developments in the global economy:
Asia
China’s economic recovery weakened in May, raising renewed fears about growth prospects and calls for more central bank action to counteract the slowdown. Manufacturing activity contracted at a faster rate than in April, while expansion in the services sector slowed.
A look at five often-overlooked commodity markets shows how China’s faltering recovery is affecting almost every corner of its economy. Evidence is mounting in the futures markets for products as diverse as glass, styrene and cornstarch that China is not recovering as quickly as many people had hoped.
According to people familiar with the matter, China is working on a new package of measures to support the property market after existing measures failed to sustain a recovery in the ailing sector.
Australia’s new home construction permits fell to their lowest level in 11 years on the back of fewer multi-family housing permits, suggesting that weak home investment will continue to weigh on the economy.
US
The latest US jobs report gave mixed signals for what has been a resilient job market so far: better-than-expected hiring and a rise in the unemployment rate. Economists said they had more reason not to believe the job market was still booming.
The number of job openings at US employers unexpectedly rose in April to the highest level in three months. The number of vacancies rose to 10.1 million, beating all estimates.
Most Americans are concerned about the level of US national debt. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is not one of them. Instead of looking at the stack of outstanding bonds as a proportion of economic output, she prefers the ratio of interest payments – crucial, after accounting for inflation – to GDP. So far, the higher national debt has not resulted in a large interest burden.
Europe
Underlying inflation in the euro zone fell more than expected, although European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said there was “no clear evidence” it had peaked and vowed to continue raising interest rates. Consumer prices excluding items like fuel and groceries rose 5.3% year-on-year in May — less than April’s 5.6% rise and less than forecast.
Russian crude oil flows to international markets, while declining slightly, are still showing no substantial signs of the production cuts the country says the Kremlin is making.
emerging markets
Brazil’s economy rebounded in the early months of 2023, boosted by record harvests that outweighed the burden of double-digit borrowing costs. However, few believe it will last.
World
Thailand’s central bank raised its interest rate to its highest level in eight years, and Liberia, Gambia and Lesotho also hiked borrowing costs, while Sri Lanka unexpectedly cut its interest rate for the first time in almost three years.
– With support from Swati Pandey, Andrew Rosati, Augusta Saraiva, Zoe Schneeweiss, Fran Wang, Heng Xie, Leda Alvim, Alfred Cang, Sarah Chen, Christopher Condon, Andrew Langley, Julian Lee, John Liu and Monique Vanek.
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