No-one likes Trump's awful tariff deal, even in the US, so backtracking starts

Kia ora,

Welcome to Tuesday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand.

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

And today we lead with news Trump's tariffs are bringing the same level of global uncertainty back as we had from China's pandemic. This time however, officials in charge lack the credibility or the instinct to change policy for the common good, or the courage to withstand the nutters. In fact, the nutters are in charge of this latest mess.

However their tariff policy took a jerk overnight with the US announcing a one month delay to the start of them against goods from Mexico. Meanwhile, Canada released the list of products that they will hit with counter-tariffs for US products. Probably more importantly, there is widespread evidence Canadians are already boycotting US products, tariffs or not. That will have a more immediate impact that official actions.

But the effects have yet to show up in the data, and there was a lot of PMI data out today for surveys that pre-dated the tariff news.

The ISM factory PMI for the US rose to a modest expansion in January from a downwardly revised small contraction in December. This was a better result than expected and is the first expansion in the factory sector by this survey after 26 consecutive months of contraction. New orders increased at a faster pace and that drove the change.

Separately the globally-benchmarked S&P/Markit factory PMI came in with a similar recovery recorded, and slightly better than the ISM one.

In Canada, their factory expansion slowed slightly in January. But it is still at a level higher than either of the US surveys.

Although the internationally-benchmarked China Caixin factory PMI slipped to a no-expansion/no-contraction state in January, the underlying data did feature a rise in new orders. Prices eased and at their fastest pace since July 2023. Looking ahead will be difficult now given the unknowable impacts of the impending tariff war.

The Singapore Manufacturing PMI for January slipped to a marginal expansion but it was the 17th consecutive month of expansion, even if it was the weakest in three months. Slower increases were recorded in new orders, new exports, factory output and employment.

EU inflation in January rose marginally, to 2.5% from 2.4% in December. What is interesting about this is that it is the first where energy prices weren't the restraining factor they were in 2024. But it is the 3.9% rise in services costs that is keeping this elevated.

EU PMIs were contracting for their large economies, expanding in the smaller ones. Overall the contraction was less in January than December.

And the S&P Global Australia Manufacturing PMI was revised higher to 50.2 in January from a flash of 49.8, and compared to 47.8 in December. It's their first expansion in the manufacturing sector in a year, as output returned to growth. New orders fell at a softer rate and employment levels increased, supporting the clearance of backlogged work.

Retail sales in Australia fell by -0.1% in December from November, the first such retreat in nine months, though the drop was milder than the forecasted -0.7% contraction. The result points to weakening consumer spending, fueling expectations that the RBA may start cutting interest rates at their February 18 meeting. Year-on-year, retail sales only rose 3.0%, barely more than inflation's 2.5%.

And staying in Australia, building consent levels were essentially unchanged in December from November to be more than +12% higher than in the same month in 2023. For all of 2024, they were +4.7% higher than in 2023. Despite those gains, the powerful construction lobby is calling for a "$12 billion injection into infrastructure" to have the taxpayer subsidise its activities.

CoreLogic reported that Australian house prices and sales activity were weaker than usual in January. They had a -0.2% price dip in January, the same as December and the fourth consecutive monthly decline. Annual price growth has continued to slow, dropping below +4% now.

The UST 10yr yield is at 4.52%, down -2 bps from yesterday at this time. 

The price of gold will start today at US$2817/oz and up +US$18 from yesterday and back to a record high.

Oil prices are virtually unchanged again at just on US$72.50/bbl in the US and the international Brent price is now US$75.50/bbl and also holding.

The Kiwi dollar is now at 56 USc and down -40 bps from this time yesterday. It fell -60 bps lower during the day but recovered some of that. Against the Aussie we are down -20 bps at 90.5 AUc. Against the euro we are down -10 bps at just under 54.3 euro cents. That all means our TWI-5 starts today just on 66.7, and down -50 bps from yesterday.

The bitcoin price starts today at US$98,885 and up a minor +0.8% from this time yesterday. Volatility over the past 24 hours has been high though at +/- 3.9%.

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

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

Kia ora. I'm David Chaston. And we will do this again tomorrow.