Global economic recovery very mixed

<p>Kia ora,</p><p>Welcome to Tuesday'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 very mixed state of affairs across the global economy.</p><p>The US is on holiday today, and some of Europe and all of China is too. That obviously means regular economic activity is taking a pause in large parts of the global economy. And that gives us an opportunity to look at activity in a wider set of second tier economies.</p><p>In South Korea they reported April <a href="http://www.interest.co.nz/sites/default/files/embedded_images/sjcu2104.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>industrial production data</strong></a> but it didn't expand anywhere as much as expected. In fact it fell from March. At least they saw <a href="http://www.interest.co.nz/sites/default/files/embedded_images/tisa2021.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>gains in retail sales</strong></a>.</p><p>In Japan, their April <a href="https://www.meti.go.jp/english/statistics/tyo/iip/index.html" target="_blank"><strong>industrial production data</strong></a> was positive although not quite as positive as expected.</p><p>China released its official May <a href="http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/zxfb/202105/t20210531_1818000.html" target="_blank"><strong>PMI survey results</strong></a> and those were unimpressive for manufacturing, although expanding at a moderate rate for services which indicates retail spending is holding up. However for quite some time now we have seen these official releases being more conservative than the parallel private sector PMI surveys which will come later today.</p><p>But a new <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3135439/covid-19-cases-continue-climb-southern-china-outbreak-traced-dim" target="_blank"><strong>pandemic outbreak in Guangdong</strong></a>, the province next to Hong Kong, is recording a sharp rise in pandemic infections and authorities have locked the border around