Europe's banks follow the Fed

<p>Kia ora,</p><p>Welcome to Friday’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 that despite the expectations of bears, the US labour market hasn't wobbled yet.</p><p><a href="https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OPA/newsreleases/ui-claims/20230569.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>US jobless claims</strong></a> rose +213,000 and a small dip from the previous week. This was about what markets expected and still no indication a any special American labour market stress. There are now less than 1.9 mln people on these programs. This overall little-changed result is actually quite impressive given all the news of growing tech and start-up layoffs recently.</p><p><a href="https://www.census.gov/construction/nrs/pdf/newressales.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>Sales of new single family houses</strong></a> rose +1.1% in February from January to an annualised rate of 640,000, the highest level since August last year. Given the upturn in the existing home market, analysts had expected an even stronger result however. And the industry will be disappointed because they have more than 8 months of unsold inventory at present.</p><p>The Chicago Fed's <a href="https://www.interest.co.nz/sites/default/files/2023-03/cfnai-march2023.pdf"><strong>national activity index</strong></a> for February revealed little material change even if the index softened marginally.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.kansascityfed.org/surveys/manufacturing-survey/tenth-district-manufacturing-activity-stayed-flat-in-march/" target="_blank"><strong>Kansas City Fed factory survey</strong></a> also had little-material change but at least it was positive in March.</p><p><a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/230322/dq230322f-eng.htm?indid=4098-1&indgeo=0" target="_blank"><strong>Canada's population</strong></a> is now approaching 40 mln in a fast 2022 spurt. They added a record