Global economy in a purple patch

<p>Kia ora,</p><p>Welcome to Monday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/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 the world is flush with positive economic data, but consumers seem very wary and uncertain about their prospects and outlook.</p><p>China released <a href="http://www.customs.gov.cn/customs/302249/zfxxgk/2799825/302274/302275/index.html" target="_blank"><strong>trade data</strong></a> for October overnight and it was impressive. Exports grew +27% year-on-year to US$300 bln, slowing from a +28% surge in September but beating market expectations of +24.5% increase. Global demand is clearly very good. Imports had a different profile, rising +21% to US$216 bln, below market expectations of a +25% gain but much better than the +18% rise in September.</p><p>That meant their trade surplus rose to a record +US$84.5 bln in October. The politically sensitive surplus with the US actually narrowed slightly to +US$41 bln. Their deficit with Australia was -US$6.1 bln in October and down sharply from -US$9.1 bln in September, and with New Zealand the October deficit was -US$162 mln and down from -US$516 mln in September.</p><p>The bigger surplus also means that their <a href="http://www.pbc.gov.cn/diaochatongjisi/resource/cms/2021/10/2021100910424994170.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>foreign reserves rose</strong></a> slightly, by +US$17 bln to US$3.218 tln in September.</p><p>But part of their increase in imports was for more coal to run their electricity-generation plants. They almost doubled from October 2020 and have been running very high all year. But at least they can <a href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202111/07/WS6187dc67a310cdd39bc73d92.html" target="_blank"><strong>claim</strong></a> the power crisis is now behind them.</p><p>Over the weekend, Chinese President Xi and Prime Minister Ardern had a phone meeting, largely about an upcoming APEC summit. It was a 'friendly' engag