Rising confidence underpins global expansion

<p>Kia ora,</p><p>Welcome to Wednesday'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 consumer confidence is high in the US, the EU and even China, underpinning good levels of economic activity.</p><p>American <a href="https://conference-board.org/data/consumerconfidence.cfm" target="_blank"><strong>consumer sentiment</strong></a> as measured by the US Conference Board rose impressively in their June survey. It is now at its highest level since the start of the pandemic and back to 2018 levels. The proportion of consumers planning to purchase houses, cars, and major appliances all rose, a sign that consumer spending will continue to support economic growth in the short-term. Vacation intentions also rose, reflecting a continued increase in spending on services.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/corporate-news/article/sp-corelogic-case-shiller-index-shows-annual-home-price-gains-surged-to-146-in-april/" target="_blank"><strong>Case-Shiller National Home Price Index</strong></a> jumped almost 15% in the year that ended in April. Intense competition for a limited number of homes in their market pushed home-price growth to the highest annual rate since this index began 34 years ago.</p><p>American manufacturing is about to get a good boost with major airline United ordering 200 Boeing 737 Max jets and 70 Airbus A321neo planes, a deal valued at about US$15 bln.</p><p>Japanese <a href="https://www.meti.go.jp/statistics/tyo/syoudou/result/pdf/202105S.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>retail sales data</strong></a> for May was released yesterday and it came in better than expected - which means it did not fall.</p><p>In Hong Kong, the courts and judiciary are <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3139203/hong-kongs-judiciary-should-uphold-countrys-will-advance" target="_blank"><strong>about to be folded into the Chinese system</stro