China & Japan see fortunes diverge

Economy Watch · Jan 9, 2025 · 7m

Kia ora,

Welcome to Friday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand.

I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz.

And today we lead with news China and Japan seem to be in the process of swapping places.

But first, following a much better than expected rise in October, and driven by fast-rising credit card debt, the November American consumer debt levels corrected in November, falling -US$7.5 bln. Again, it was a sharpish pullback in credit card debt that drove the surprise November result. On the other…