20121108 1105 Global Economy Related News.

China: Economic growth at stake as communists gather in Beijing
China’s Communist Party gathers today in Beijing to choose its fifth generation of leaders since taking power in 1949, a decision that will shape the nation’s economic and financial policies for the next decade. Vice President Xi Jinping is forecast to replace Hu Jintao as general secretary of the 82m-member party. Vice Premier Li Keqiang is seen taking Premier Wen Jiabao’s spot on the top Politburo Standing Committee, setting him up to assume Wen’s job next March. (Bloomberg)

NZ: Jobless rate surges to 13-year high 7.3%, currency plunges
New Zealand’s unemployment rate unexpectedly rose last quarter to a 13-year high, adding to evidence of a faltering recovery and sending the best-performing Group of 10 currency this year plunging. The jobless rate jumped to 7.3% from 6.8% in the second quarter, Statistics New Zealand said in a report today in Wellington. That’s the highest since the first quarter of 1999 and was more than the 6.7% median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Employment fell by 0.4%, or 8,000 jobs, from the second quarter, when it dropped 0.1%. Economists expected job growth of 0.3%. (Bloomberg)

EU: Poland delivers first rate cut since 2009 as economy weaken
Poland’s central bank cut borrowing costs for the first time since 2009 as the European Union’s biggest eastern economy slows amid the euro-area debt crisis. The only central bank in the 27-nation EU to raise rates this year lowered the benchmark 25 basis points to 4.5%, in line with forecasts of 34 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. One predicted a 50 basis-point cut. While central banks around the world have eased monetary policy to avert a recession, Poland raised rates by a quarter-point in May after inflation exceeded its 2.5% target for two years. (Bloomberg)

US: Upbeat consumers to sustain US as firms hesitate
Consumers in the US are stepping in where companies fear to tread. Americans are more upbeat while business sentiment stagnates, a sign their spending will provide a bridge for the economic expansion until the so-called fiscal cliff is resolved and entices companies to resume investment. “In the tug-of-war between more confident consumers and more cautious businesses, it looks like the consumer is winning,” said Harm Bandholz, chief US economist at UniCredit Group in New York. (Bloomberg)

US: Obama get re-elected with economy looking nothing like 2008
Unemployment is falling. The housing market is rebounding. Consumers are paying off their debts. And the big banks are healthy. The US economy that earned President Barack Obama a second term looks nothing like the mess that he inherited four years ago. Instead of shrinking and shedding jobs, the country is growing at an annual rate of 2% and businesses are handing out new paychecks at a monthly average of 157,000 so far this year. That doesn’t mean the world’s largest economy is thriving. (Bloomberg)

Dow tumbles most in one year after presidential elections
US stocks slumped, giving the Dow Jones Industrial Average its biggest decline in a year, as investors’ focus turned to the budget debate and Europe’s debt crisis following President Barack Obama’s re-election. The S&P 500 fell 2.4% to 1,394.53. The Dow lost 312.95 pts, or 2.4%, to 12,932.73. Volume for exchange-listed stocks in the U.S. was 7.9bn shares, or 32% above the three-month average. Now that the election has been decided, investors will turn their focus to the USD607bn of tax increases and federal spending cuts set to kick in automatically in January, the so-called fiscal cliff. (Bloomberg)