Reports

ASEAN nations like Malaysia have been observing Donald Trump's tariff rhetoric with alarm. Policymakers in Kuala Lumpur and the Penang semiconductor cluster will have breathed a sigh of relief when he temporarily exempted electronics from his tariff plans.

Despite the weak global economy and a shaky UK job market, Britons show no signs of paring their credit card spending, according to one of CEIC's most recently added high-frequency datasets, sourced by Fable. This reinforces a relatively positive narrative for the British economy after economic growth was surprisingly strong in February.

The Trump administration's trade policies have had many analysts calling for a recession. However, according to CEIC's nowcast, the US economy slowed slightly, but isn't close to a contraction yet.

German business has high hopes for incoming Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his plan to unleash government spending on defense and infrastructure. Loosening the historically borrowing-averse nation's "debt brake" to enable massive government bond issuance is seen as reviving the eurozone's largest economy after years of stagnation.

China's rise to become Asia's biggest economy was fueled by coal. But over the past two decades, natural gas has taken on a more prominent role. Coal is particularly important in electricity generation and steel; gas is important for residential heating, and the government has also encouraged a switch from coal to gas for industries to improve urban air quality. ("Dual carbon" goals proposed by President Xi Jinping also call for an urgent shift toward a lower-carbon energy structure.)

Donald Trump's so-called Liberation Day coincided with previously announced 25% tariffs on imported cars taking effect. His latest tariff salvo delivered worse-than-expected news (especially for Asian economies) and unnerved global markets.

Donald Trump announced his "Liberation Day" schedule of tariffs on 180 countries and territories on April 2 to some confusion -- especially a table he presented titled "Tariffs Charged to the U.S.A. including Currency Manipulation and Trade Barriers."

More than 2 million Malaysians work in manufacturing; that accounts for about 28% of the formal workforce. By breaking down payroll data, we found that the food sector has become Malaysia's fastest job creator.

South Korea releases staggered, month-to-date foreign trade figures, providing 10-day and 20-day updates for the start of a calendar month. We've previously examined how this can be a useful and early proxy for neighboring East Asian economies. But given the outsized importance of South Korea's semiconductor sector, we can also use these figures to extrapolate demand for the global chip industry.

How much are China's consumers willing to spend instead of save? Since 2024, subsidy policies have helped push consumption higher after a post-pandemic lull.