China's economy weakens

<p>Kia ora, </p><p>Welcome to Thursday'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 of a broad range of August data that shows the Chinese economy is slowing, and quite quickly.</p><p>But first in the US, <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/Current/default.htm" target="_blank"><strong>industrial production</strong></a> rose as expected in August, up +5.9% from a year ago</p><p>And the latest <a href="https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/survey/empire/empire2021/esms_2021_09.pdf?la=en" target="_blank"><strong>Fed survey</strong></a> of factories in the New York region shows that growth as picked up, selling prices are still setting new record high levels, and these businesses have a very positive outlook.</p><p>In Canada, their <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210915/dq210915a-eng.htm?HPA=1" target="_blank"><strong>CPI</strong></a> increased +4.1% in August and higher than the higher estimates. It is high enough now to become an election issue there.</p><p>In China, <a href="http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/zxfb/202109/t20210915_1822074.html" target="_blank"><strong>house prices</strong></a> rose +4.2% in August which was a little less than the July rise and probably on a track they want to see. But most of the other August data they released was weaker than they would like.</p><p>Chinese <a href="http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/zxfb/202109/t20210915_1822085.html" target="_blank"><strong>industrial production</strong></a> rose +5.3% year-on-year, well shy of July's +6.4% gain and the expected +5.8% in August. In fact the August gain was their slowest in more than a year.</p><p>Their <a href="http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/zxfb/202109/t20210915_1822087.html" target="_blank"><strong>electricity production</strong></a> came in virtually unchanged from August a year ago.</p><p>China <a href="http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/zxfb