Markets are struggling to decipher exactly what might have been promised in U.S.-China trade talks this week, while the U.S. government enters its third week of shutdown and sour global growth evidence piles up. Happy New Year, indeed.
Here’s our weekly wrap of what’s going on in the world economy.
Germany stole this week’s undesirable growth-scare spotlight, with slumping factory orders and industrial output spreading recession-risk fear. Sentiment across the euro area already is on its worst losing streak in a decade. The World Bank piled on with a slashing of its 2019 world growth outlook, and Wall Street is seeing tumbling yields.
In China, auto sales dropped for the first time in more than 20 years and factory deflation is looming as policy makers keep propping things up. Watch these gauges to track a bottom for the world’s No. 2 economy. The shine of a stellar December jobs report is fading in the U.S. as a services gauge fell to a five-month low, and Samsung’s sad earnings are clouding South Korea’s outlook. Cheer up, Asia: We’re counting on you to carry the growth torch to 2030.