Lean housing inventory in the U.S. and U.K. has driven home prices to a record, constraining sales momentum, while business sentiment is improving in Germany and France.
Inflationary pressures across the globe are prompting more central banks -- including Mexico, the Czech Republic and Hungary -- to raise interest rates.
Here are some of the charts that appeared on Bloomberg this week on the latest developments in the global economy:
U.S.
Shipping bottlenecks and higher input prices have held back U.S. residential construction, contributing to skyrocketing prices for the limited supply of properties available and a drop in new-home sales.
Missing Benefits
Share of claims not paid under regular unemployment program
March 2020 through March 2021, reported as of June 18, 2021. First payment data for Minnesota from Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
Data: U.S. Department of Labor
At least 9 millions of Americans fell through the cracks of the unemployment assistance system, according to a a review of more than a year’s worth of Labor Department data.
Europe
German business confidence climbed to the strongest in more than two years in June, echoing a jump in France as the lifting of some pandemic restrictions allows services to resume activity.
Regional Boom
Price change and mean average price in each area
Source: Rightmove House Price Index
U.K. house price growth slowed in June as record prices and a lack of properties to purchase drained momentum from the market.
Asia
Fiscal Pullback
Chinese government has spent less than it's bringing in this year
Sources: Ministry of Finance; Bloomberg
Note: Augmented fiscal balance covers both general public budget and government fund budget
China’s government is facing more calls to worry less about debt, with several influential economists arguing that authorities should follow the U.S. playbook and borrow more to spur the economy.
Chip Vulnerability
Japan relies heavily on imports to meet chip demand
Source: Japan's Cabinet Secretariat
Japan must put at least a trillion yen ($9 billion) toward chip development this fiscal year and trillions more after that, if it is to have any hope of reviving its national industry, according to the government’s lead adviser on its new semiconductor strategy.
Emerging Markets
Interest Rate Watch
Some central banks have already started to raise borrowing costs
Source: Bloomberg
Note: Mapped data show rate changes for distinct central banks; Mexico cut in February, raised in June, rate now at same level as it was at start of year
Mexico’s central bank surprised economists by switching to monetary tightening and delivering a small interest rate increase amid an inflation spike. Policy makers in Hungary and the Czech Republic also hiked rates this week.
Hyperinflation
Venezuela’s annual consumer price increases forecast at 2,900% for July
Source: Venezuela Finance Ministry
Venezuela’s economy may have finally hit bottom. Hyperinflation has moderated and President Nicholas Maduro told Bloomberg he’s confident that output will expand slightly in 2021 after contracting about 80% since 2012.
Lebanon’s gross domestic product plunged to just above $19 billion last year, according to estimates by the International Monetary Fund, its lowest level since 2002 and worse than war-stricken Yemen.
World
Unpaid Labor
Countries with the biggest gender gaps in hours spent on child care
Source: Center for Global Development
Women took on 173 additional hours of unpaid child care last year, compared to 59 additional hours for men, a global study released by the Center for Global Development, a poverty non-profit, found. The gap widened in low- and middle-income countries, where women cared for children for more than three times as many hours as men did.
— With assistance by Abeer Abu Omar, Maya Averbuch, Shera Avi-Yonah, Marc Daniel Davies, Shawn Donnan, Yuki Furukawa, Max De Haldevang, Tom Hancock, William Horobin, Patricia Laya, Yujing Liu, Carolynn Look, Sydney Maki, Yoshiaki Nohara, Reade Pickert, Olivia Rockeman, and Alex Vasquez