America’s jobs
US payrolls bumped 292,000 ticks higher in December’s exceptionally strong jobs report.
That’s a nice counterbalance to American industrial activity, which has gotten worryingly slow.
China’s slog
The world’s second largest economy is blowing money fast as its currency fades and its economy slows.
A lot is depending on those efforts, like exports in Taiwan …
… and South Korea.
Global blahs
Brazil’s industrial production continues to contract, as its brutal recession lurches on.
Deteriorating internal demand goes a long way to explaining its record trade surplus.
Euro zone retail sales are losing steam.
Likewise, euro zone inflation remains moribund.
Meanwhile, Switzerland spent all of 2015 in deflation.
