World 

We’ve just added a new data source: SpaceKnow. It provides nowcasting datasets tracking near-real-time activity for industries such as mining, retail, manufacturing and transportation. What makes its approach unique is the use of satellite imagery, which is combined with the firm’s proprietary algorithms. More information can be found here.

We currently provide a selection of daily indicators with a one-month lag. Customers interested in knowing more about SpaceKnow’s offerings can contact them directly through their portal. 

In the chart below, we examine a proxy for American commerce: activity at Amazon’s US logistics centres. 

SpaceKnow generates this data by comparing and compiling the differences between consecutive satellite images. As vehicles come and go from these warehouses, the view from the sky will change. SpaceKnow measures this activity by aggregating the land area in square metres that changed from photo to photo. 

Amazon’s activity tends to be seasonal: the logistics centres are busier in the run-up to Christmas, and quieter in the summer. There has also been a definite shift since the pandemic. 

We compared 2023 to the high-low range and average of the past five years, as well as 2019 and 2022. For most weeks, 2019 was the busiest year and 2022 was the quietest. So far, 2023 is tracking that low 2022 trend.

Malaysia

We’ve expanded our labour market coverage with monthly job vacancies broken down by sector.

In the chart below, we display the various components of the total unfilled vacancies. It’s worth noting that the service sector has been the most impacted since the pandemic. Today, unfilled services positions are higher than the total number of vacancies for any given month prior to 2020. Manufacturing and construction also had trouble recruiting through 2022, but the situation for these two sectors has returned to historical trends. 

World

We’ve added a new table from the SWIFT Monthly RMB Tracker publication. Users can now access the percentage share of a given currency’s use in the trade finance market. 

World leaders and economists have spent considerable energy discussing “dedollarisation” this year as sanctions make some countries uncomfortable using the US currency as a means of exchange. Meanwhile, China is attempting to boost the global role of the yuan, or renminbi.

This chart tracks the percentage share of the euro and renminbi in trade finance – the financial instruments and products used by companies to facilitate international commerce.

While the dollar (which is not displayed on the chart) is still the main currency used, the renminbi has seen its share increase by 3 percentage points over the past 15 months – more than doubling to 4.7 percent from 1.8 percent in that time frame. That’s put it solidly in third place amongst trade-finance currencies. To be sure, the dollar remains far ahead of all challengers: 84 percent of trade finance transactions use the greenback, with no sign of decrease.