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 the gold price is tumbling today, ending its recent spectacular rise.

But first, American initial jobless claims rose to 223,600 last week, more than expected. There are now 1.907 mln people on these benefits, +153,000 more than at this time last year, a rose of +8.7%.

But job cuts announced in April came in less than you might have thought at 105,400, certainly less than for March. But they are +62% higher than year-ago levels.

The widely-watched ISM manufacturing PMI for April slipped into a deeper contraction than in March, although slightly less so than expected. Output shrank more sharply and prices rose faster. Meanwhile, new orders declined at a slower pace although new export orders fell steeply. This survey was quite a bit more negative than the S&P Global/Markit version we noted yesterday.

One sector that has lost much of its momentum is the US construction industry. It atrophied somewhat in March, again.

The expectation is that tomorrow's US non-farm payrolls report will deliver a rise of +130,000, about half the levels they had at the back end of 2024. But there may be downside risks to this estimate. A very weak result will put the Fed in a real bind, having to choose between rescuing jobs in a faltering economy, or pushing back on rising inflation. The last time they had serious stagflation was in the late 1970s, and then the Fed chose fighting inflation over preserving jobs and growth. It caused social unrest, but it beat inflation, and ended stagflation's curse - until now. But fifty years later, few people understand that curse and it's corrosive effects.

Across the Pacific, the Bank of Japan held its key interest rate steady yesterday as the new American tariff policy casts a shadow over the Japanese economy. The central bank kept its policy rate at 0.5% during its first board meeting since Washington announced a wave of "reciprocal" tariffs in early April. The yen fell. The BOJ also stood pat at its March meeting following a +25 bps hike in January.

And don't forget, China is on holiday, until Tuesday. So data releases there are sparse. It may be a good time for some of them to take a break; outbound export shipments to the US are reportedly down -50%. Despite that, there are signs the US is desperate to get trade talks going but Beijing is playing hard to engage.

Australia reported a merchandise trade surplus of +AU$10.8 bln in March. This was a good improvement from the relatively low +AU$8.4 bln in March 2024, but similar to the average March in the prior five years (+AU$10.6 bln). (Australia usually reports seasonally adjusted values, and are much lower than the actual values this year, for some reason.)

The Aussie federal election is in its final day now. Pundits seem to think the incumbent government will be returned but with a reduced majority, maybe even requiring a coalition partner. We will know soon enough.

Global container freight rates fell -3% last week from the prior week to be -23% lower than year ago levels. Bulk freight rates were little-changed.

The UST 10yr yield is now at 4.23%, up +5 bps from this time yesterday.

The price of gold will start today at US$3214/oz, and down -US$95 from yesterday.

Oil prices are holding lower at just on US$58.50/bbl in the US and the international Brent price is now just under US$61.50/bbl. These remain four year lows, down to level last seen in April 2021.

The Kiwi dollar is now at 59 USc, down -40 bps from yesterday at this time. Against the Aussie we are down -20 bps at 92.6 AUc. Against the euro we are little-changed at 52.3 euro cents. That all means our TWI-5 starts today just on 67.4 and down -10 bps.

The bitcoin price starts today up +2.8% from yesterday at US$96,810. Volatility over the past 24 hours has been modest at +/- 1.9%.

This briefing is taking a few days off for a short break. We will resume on Tuesday, May 5, 2025.

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 on Tuesday.