Welcome to Scapegoat Economics

Daily update

When economies go through structural upheaval, inevitably some people win and some lose. The causes of this are complex, but people tend to prefer simplicity over complexity—and look for a single scapegoat to blame. Foreigners make an ideal scapegoat. Sino-US relations represent this trend. The US is complaining about “unfair” Chinese national champions. China is complaining about US-led efforts to “suppress” China. Scapegoating distracts from more serious structural problems in each economy.
In the rather more dull world of economic reality, Euro February producer price inflation will not benefit from the energy base effects that lowered March consumer prices. However, the numbers are expected to slow.
US JOLTS job openings data are due. The job vacancy number does not record job vacancies. It approximates externally advertised job vacancies. The churn in the US labor market (people hopping from company to company) has increased the number of external (reported) vacancies relative to the internal (unreported) vacancies. Online measures have indicated fewer job openings available.
There are a couple of Bank of England speakers today. Other central bankers are talking, but as the UK is probably the closest to the peak of the monetary policy cycle, speakers there are likely to get a little more attention.