China regains poise, US stumbles through shutdown

Kia ora,

Welcome to Friday’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 China's economic activity over their holiday period will be impressing investors, while the US worries about weakening labour markets.

But first, the ongoing US Federal Government shutdown means there is no USDA WASDE report for September that was due today. That will delay scrutiny of "farmageddon" especially for soybean farmers. Bailouts are on the way (in a way Trump hates in other countries) but they won't be large enough to hold off existential issues for many farmers.

But despite the shutdown, there was a long-dated bond auction overnight for their 30 year Treasury bond, and it attracted normal levels of support. It resulted in a median yield of 4.67%, up from 4.58% at the prior equivalent event a month ago.

Across the Pacific, Japanese machine tool orders for September rose almost +10% from a year earlier to its best September level since the record high in 2022. Driving the increase was export orders, although domestic orders gained too. It is an impressive result for them.

Taiwanese exports in September continue to astound. The surged almost +34% from a year ago to more than US$54 bln in the month, their third-highest month ever. Only the prior July and August were larger, so they are on a real roll. This latest data was driven by strong demand for their electronics products, up more than +86% on the same basis. Other machinery exports were good too. You can see why mainland politicians covet their neighbour and want to claim it.

In the Philippines, their central bank cut its policy rate unexpectedly by -25 bps to 4.75%.

Chian is back from holiday. According to official reports, they estimated the Golden Week holiday generated 888 mln separate travel trips with total overall spending at ¥809 bln (NZ$200 bln). These are record highs with hospitality up +2.7% and tourist spending up +6%. Their overall GST data shows retail activity up +4.5% from year-ago levels for this holiday period. By any measures these are good levels and indicate China's economy is more than holding its own at present. It also indicates that domestic demand can be a sustainable driver for them, much as Beijing has wanted.

Supporting this conclusion has been the positive financial market reactions post-holiday from the equity, bond and currency markets.

Indonesia reported August retail sales overnight and they expanded at a good pace, up +3.5% from a year ago, and while this wasn't as fast as for July, it does indicate that recent government measures to dig them out of a languid period are working. This is important because social unrest spilled into the streets a few months ago.

In Europe, Germany reported August export levels overnight and they came in almost the same as they reported a year ago (€130 bln)

In Australia, their October survey of inflation expectations again shows pressure at the top of the recent range. Those expectations edged up to 4.8% from 4.7% in September, continuing high results since June. This is building concerns that Q3 inflation may exceed the forecasts of 3% when it is released on Wednesday, October 29. This latest uptick reflects the impact of unwinding temporary energy subsidies, and elevated labour costs driven by weak productivity.

Global container freight rates were little-changed last week, down just -1% from the prior week to be under half year-ago levels. Bulk freight rates were also unchanged for the week to be +5% higher than year-ago levels.

The UST 10yr yield is now at 4.15% and up +1 bp from yesterday at this time.

The price of gold will start today at US$3980/oz, down -US$73 from yesterday and now well off its high. Volatility is setting in. Silver is down too but not by as much, now just under US$49/oz. Earlier in the day it hit a new ATH before the pullback.

American oil prices are down -US$1 at just on US$61.50/bbl, with the international Brent price now just under US$65.50/bbl.

The Kiwi dollar is at just on 57.4 USc, down another -40 bps from yesterday. Against the Aussie we softened -10 bps at 87.7 AUc. Against the euro we are down -10 bps at 49.7 euro cents. That all means our TWI-5 starts today at just on 65.2, down -20 bps from yesterday.

The bitcoin price starts today at US$120,690 and down -2.0% from this time yesterday. Volatility over the past 24 hours has been modest at just on +/- 1.4%.

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 on Monday.