Breakfast briefing: China relaxes some rules. The US slows down

But as regular readers know, there are two related surveys, the widely-reported Establishment (employer) survey, and the parallel Household survey. This second survey shows there is a 159.2 mln employed workforce, more than +15 mln higher than the employer survey. The US will release its December inflation data on Friday (NZT). It is also a good result for them, and like the Americans, both their participation rate rose and their jobless rate fell. From the prior month, inflation is slowing fast, running at an annualised -4.2% deflation rate now.