Searching for some wins in the inflation battle

<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 inflation's track has everyone's attention everywhere.</p><p>But first, <a href="https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OPA/newsreleases/ui-claims/20230265.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>US jobless claims rose</strong></a> last week by +235,000 which was a small but significant rise and might signal the start of a weakening labour market there. And it was more than expected. Many will no doubt say the shift is too small to be significant, but it is a turn from the long string of declines in this leading metric. There are now 1.935 mln people on these benefits, also a minor increase.</p><p>Staying in the US, we probably should note that despite the high-drama headline-grabbing brinkmanship surrounding their debt limit and resulting "extraordinary measures", their bond markets remain very calm with Treasury <a href="https://treasurydirect.gov/auctions/announcements-data-results/announcement-results-press-releases/previous-announcements-and-results/" target="_blank"><strong>issues trading normally</strong></a> and ignoring the Congressional theatre.</p><p>Meanwhile, the US Treasury <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/Treasury-Cloud-Report.pdf" target="_blank"><strong>says</strong></a> cloud computing poses risks to their financial sector. they say reliance on Amazon, Microsoft or Google could have broad consequences. They are flagging "all eggs in one basket" risks.</p><p>Fitch Ratings has revised its forecast for China’s economic growth in 2023 to +5.0%, from +4.1% previously, reflecting evidence that consumption and activity are recovering faster than initially anticipated after the authorities moved away from their “dynamic zero Covid-19” policy stance in late 2022.</p><p>China will announce its January CPI inflation later today and it is expected to be