Charting the global economy: US employers stay cautious on hires
Here are some of the charts that appeared on Bloomberg this week on the latest developments in the global economy, markets and geopolitics:
US
US employers added fewer jobs than expected in December, capping a yearlong slowdown in the labor market defined by cautious hiring and limited layoffs. Payrolls increased 50,000 last month after downward revisions to the prior two months. The unemployment rate edged down to 4.4%.
Major US oil executives expressed caution to Trump about reentering Venezuela, even as the president pressured their companies to spend at least $100 billion to revive the country’s production following the brazen capture of Maduro.
After a year of rolling policy shocks, the US economy is set to get a lift from Trump’s tax-cuts package to keep the expansion on track in 2026.
Europe
Euro-area inflation eased to the European Central Bank’s target, supporting the view of policymakers that interest rates can stay at current levels unless the economic outlook changes significantly.
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German industrial production unexpectedly increased for a third month, the latest signal that a recovery might be taking hold in Europe’s biggest economy. The numbers add to belated signs of good news at the tail end of another lost year for growth in Germany’s economy, when the woes of its once-mighty auto industry — amid high costs, US tariffs and Chinese competition — had become ever clearer.
More British workers face losing their job than at any point in almost three years, a post-budget deterioration in the labor market that is likely to set off alarm bells at the Bank of England.
Gilts are rallying to start the year as the UK government shifts away from long-term borrowing and weaker inflation fuels bets on Bank of England interest-rate cuts.
Asia
Australia’s core inflation slowed in November, supporting the case for the Reserve Bank to keep interest rates unchanged for now as it assesses the impact of earlier policy easing.
Indonesia plans to reclaim millions more hectares of land that it deems are being used illegally, intensifying a campaign to tighten oversight of its vast resources sector. The nation’s government has already seized some 4 million hectares of palm oil plantations, mine concessions and processing facilities — an area roughly the size of Switzerland — under a crackdown launched last year against malfeasance in the commodities sector.
China started an anti-dumping probe into a key chipmaking material from Japan, escalating the dispute between Asia’s largest economies shortly after Tokyo officials rebuked Beijing over potentially wide-ranging export controls. The material, dichlorosilane, is mainly used in thin films needed to produce logic, memory, analog and other types of chips, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.
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Emerging Markets
A group of global investors said it stands ready to start talks over $60 billion of defaulted Venezuelan bonds, a first step in one of the world’s largest and most complex government debt restructurings. It comes amid signs of a thaw in relations between Caracas and Washington in the wake of a US military operation that removed President Nicolas Maduro from power.
Mexican annual inflation slowed more than expected in December, supporting policymakers’ decisions to cut their benchmark interest rate at their last meeting.
World
The US raid that captured Maduro put America’s allies and adversaries on notice: Trump has a new world order of his own. Coming after strikes in Trump’s second term on Somalia, Nigeria, Syria, Iraq and Iran, as well as in international waters, it marked the culmination of a far more aggressive foreign policy style that puts Trump’s view of US interests above all else.
Copper extended a powerful rally after bursting through $13,000 a ton for the first time, as investors bet on a tighter market and a risk-on mood took hold in broader financial markets. Expectations that the Trump administration may introduce a tariff on refined metal have drawn huge volumes of inventory into the US, potentially leaving the rest of the world short as miners struggle to boost output.
Israel unexpectedly lowered interest rates, while Peru and Tanzania kept borrowing costs unchanged.
–With assistance from Laura Avetisyan, Enda Curran, Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Alastair Gale, Philip J. Heijmans, James Hirai, Eko Listiyorini, Fiona MacDonald, Mark Niquette, Yoshiaki Nohara, Swati Pandey, Anuradha Raghu, Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Tom Rees, Martin Ritchie, Nasteho Said, Zoe Schneeweiss, Courtney Subramanian, Kate Sullivan, Alex Vasquez, Alexander Weber, Josh Xiao and Winnie Zhu.
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