Shoppers upbeat about spending

<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>And today we lead with news the early indications are that end of year retailing might be coming in with more upside than expected.</p><p>But first, this week, all eyes will be on the RBNZ Monetary Policy Review on Wednesday even though no change in the benchmark policy rate is anticipated. We will also get Australia's monthly consumer price indicator for October on the same day and that is expected to reveal a 5.2% inflation rate, down from the 5.6% in September. In the US, eyes will be on the ISM PMI, and their PCE inflation rate.</p><p>At the end of last week the <a href="https://www.pmi.spglobal.com/Public/Home/PressRelease/b72b9c19b3bd48e78027009aad143044" target="_blank"><strong>November Markit PMI</strong></a> for the US came in unchanged with the modest expansion continuing. That covers a factory sector that is still contracting slightly, and a services sector expanding at a slightly faster rate. Of note was that US companies lowered their workforce numbers during November for the first time in almost three-and-a-half years, although the shift was very minor.</p><p>But it looks like retail sales have been strong over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend - online at least. Adobe is <a href="https://business.adobe.com/resources/holiday-shopping-report.html" target="_blank"><strong>reporting</strong></a> Black Friday sales up +7.5% from last year in the sectors they monitor. Salesforce is <a href="https://www.salesforce.com/resources/research-reports/retail-holiday-insights/?d=cta-body-promo-1018" target="_blank"><strong>reporting</strong></a> a +9% gain in the US sectors they monitor. And Shopify <a href="https://news.shopify.com/they-did-it-again-shopify-merchants-break-black-friday-record-with-41-billion-in-sales" target="_blank"><strong>says</strong></a> they saw a +22% gain in their specia