(Bloomberg) — The U.S. labor market is powering forward while the services economy strengthens, factory orders in Germany are firming and inflationary pressures continue to build in emerging markets that include India and Brazil.
Here are some of the charts that appeared on Bloomberg this week on the latest developments in the global economy:
U.S.
The labor market charged ahead in July with the biggest increase in employment in nearly a year and the jobless rate fell more than forecast, highlighting optimism about demand even as coronavirus concerns resurface.
Service providers expanded in July at the fastest pace in records dating back to 1997 as measures of business activity, new orders and employment all improved.
The median projection by Federal Reserve rate setters of 7% economic growth in 2021 is slipping out of reach, Bloomberg Economics’ updated forecasts suggest. The main factor behind the downward revision to 6.3% is an inability of the supply side of the economy to support faster inflation-adjusted growth, not the delta variant.
Europe
The Bank of England said inflation will peak higher than expected around 4% and warned it will need to start some “modest tightening” of monetary policy over the next three years to keep price growth under control.
German factory orders rose in June, bolstering the recovery in Europe’s largest economy as an easing of pandemic restrictions supported business activity across sectors.
Asia
A sweeping new vision for the world’s second-largest economy is emerging from the crackdown on big tech — one where the interests of investors take a distant third place to ensuring social stability and China’s national security.
Tokyo consumer prices unexpectedly rose for the first time in a year, another sign of a recovering inflation pulse in Japan, though the pace of gains was far from the levels fueling fears elsewhere in the world.
Emerging Markets
Brazil’s central bank delivered its most aggressive interest rate increase in nearly two decades and promised to quickly reintroduce a restrictive monetary policy to tame above-target inflation.
India’s central bank kept interest rates unchanged at a record low to support the economy, even as a split appeared among policy makers on continuing with the lower-for-longer stance. The 5-1 decision came against a backdrop of inflation that’s breached the Reserve Bank of India’s upper tolerance limit of 6% in the past two months, a trend attributed mainly to supply side disruptions caused by the pandemic.
World
Member nations approved the biggest resource injection in the International Monetary Fund’s history, with $650 billion meant to help countries deal with mounting debt and the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.
TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets also climbed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says wholesale sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain, rose 0.4 per cent to $82.7 billion in July.
The increase came as sales in the miscellaneous subsector gained three per cent to reach $10.5 billion in July, helped by strength in the agriculture supplies industry group, which rose 9.2 per cent.
The food, beverage and tobacco subsector added 1.7 per cent to total $15 billion in July.
The personal and household goods subsector fell 2.5 per cent to $12.1 billion.
In volume terms, overall wholesale sales rose 0.5 per cent in July.
Statistics Canada started including oilseed and grain as well as the petroleum and petroleum products subsector as part of wholesale trade last year, but is excluding the data from monthly analysis until there is enough historical data.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in the base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 172.18 points at 23,383.35.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 34.99 points at 40,826.72. The S&P 500 index was up 10.56 points at 5,564.69, while the Nasdaq composite was up 74.84 points at 17,470.37.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.55 cents US compared with 73.59 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up $2.00 at US$69.31 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up five cents at US$2.32 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$40.00 at US$2,582.40 an ounce and the December copper contract was up six cents at US$4.20 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
