Trade trends?

Daily update

Yesterday, the Bank of England did what it does best and disagreed with itself over policy. The finely balanced vote opens the way for a rate cut in December, when policy-makers will have the benefit of actually knowing what the government’s fiscal policy is to be.
China’s exports fell in October, with a notable weakening of exports to countries other than the US. This might reflect shifting patterns in rerouting goods to the US. It might also reflect an expectation that tariffs against China will be cut (which could cause US importers to temporarily moderate their demand).
If the US had a functioning government, we would be getting labor market data today. In the absence of a functioning government, economists’ fears do seem to be realized. Markets are starting to pay too much attention to unhelpful sentiment polls. Counting newspaper articles about job losses might not be the most insightful glimpse of the health of the labor market.
We do hear from the well-regarded economist, New York Fed President Williams. Williams is bound to be asked how the Fed intends to manage setting policy in the midst of a self-inflicted data drought.