A stable crypto currency system coming 'soon'

<p>Kia ora,</p><p>Welcome to Friday's Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect New Zealand.</p><p>I'm David Chaston and this is the International edition from Interest.co.nz.</p><p>Today we lead with news central banks are moving to design a stable crypto currency system.</p><p>In a week of wild-west volatility in the unregulated crypto markets, the US Fed has <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/other20210520b.htm" target="_blank"><strong>signaled</strong></a> it will have a lot to say soon about central bank digital currencies. They want to play “a leading role” in the development of international standards. Central banks around the world - most notably the People’s Bank of China - are moving ahead with digital currencies which could give them a head-start in how standards develop.</p><p><a href="https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OPA/newsreleases/ui-claims/20210930.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>US jobless claims fell</strong></a> slightly more than expected to 454,000 last week, taking the total to just under 3.7 mln on these programs and the lowest since the start of the pandemic. In the equivalent week in 2020 there were 21.2 mln people on these programs. In <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CCSA" target="_blank"><strong>2019</strong></a> it was 1.7 mln, so they still have a long way to get back to pre-pandemic levels.</p><p>The next regional Fed survey of manufacturers, this one from <a href="https://www.philadelphiafed.org/surveys-and-data/regional-economic-analysis/mbos-2021-05" target="_blank"><strong>the Philly Fed region</strong></a> for May, has come in still very positive but a sharp downgrade from their prior April survey. New order levels and activity levels reduced, and price increases hit a 40 year high after sharp jumps. Although they are dealing with faster and widespread price increases, most firms remain optimistic.</p><p>The US Treasury offered US$13 bln in <a href="https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/annceresult/pres