Economic signals become very uncertain

<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 war in Ukraine rages on, expanding and getting dangerously close to drawing in NATO. Russia seems frustrated it wasn't a quick affair (as in its takeovers of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Georgia) and is lashing out.</p><p>In economic news, Japan might be rising from its national funk over the past few years. <a href="https://www.stat.go.jp/data/kakei/sokuhou/tsuki/index.html" target="_blank"><strong>Household spending</strong></a> there increased by +6.9% in January in real terms from the same month a year ago, easily beating market forecasts of +3.6% and reversing from a -0.2% fall a month earlier. This was the first rise in personal spending since last July and the strongest pace in eight months. Consumption has recovered following soaring vaccination progress.</p><p>In China, their jobs imbalance is an issue at the highest levels in Beijing. In 2022, 16 mln "urban job seekers" will enter their labour force. But Government plans will only accommodate "11 mln to 13 mln urban jobs in 2022". Premier Li Keqiang revealed the imbalance at a Party conference - and at the same time announcing that he was stepping down (but this item is not suggesting the two issues are related at all). There is still no word on the expected crowning of Xi Jinping as President for life at the current party congress.</p><p>And staying in China, <a href="http://www.caam.org.cn/" target="_blank"><strong>vehicle sales surged</strong></a> almost +19% year-on-year to 1.74 mln units in February. That was a sharp improvement from the lackluster January result. Sales of passenger cars rose almost +28% year-on-year to 1.49 mln units.</p><p>And China is ramping up its <a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/20220313/f52bf9e55aff46a28e33a627d7002483/c.html" target="_blank"><strong>coal production</strong>