{"id":429542,"date":"2026-04-16T03:40:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T20:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/2026\/04\/economic-calendar-in-asia-thursday-april-16-australian-jobs-china-gdp-eco-activity\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T03:40:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T20:40:06","slug":"economic-calendar-in-asia-thursday-april-16-australian-jobs-china-gdp-eco-activity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/2026\/04\/economic-calendar-in-asia-thursday-april-16-australian-jobs-china-gdp-eco-activity\/","title":{"rendered":"Economic calendar in Asia Thursday, April 16. Australian jobs, China GDP &amp; eco activity"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>I posted a preview of the Australian jobs report here:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For the Reserve Bank: despite a softening labour outlook, inflation risks tied to the energy shock remain the dominant concern. As a result, <a href=\"https:\/\/investinglive.com\/news\/australian-jobs-data-preview-labour-data-to-miss-iran-impact-slowdown-seen-later-20260414\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"follow\">upcoming labour data is unlikely to materially shift near-term policy expectations<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"89\" data-end=\"306\">China\u2019s first-quarter GDP is expected to show a modest pickup in growth, supported by resilient exports, though the outlook for the remainder of 2026 is increasingly clouded by external risks and weak domestic demand.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"308\" data-end=\"668\">Economists broadly expect the January\u2013March expansion to come in around 4.7\u20134.8% year-on-year, up from 4.5\u20135.0% in the fourth quarter, marking a tentative rebound after growth slowed to a multi-year low late last year. On a quarterly basis, activity is seen improving slightly to around 1.3%, suggesting some stabilisation in momentum at the start of the year.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"670\" data-end=\"1063\">However, the underlying detail points to a still-fragile recovery. March activity indicators are expected to remain soft overall, with retail sales forecast to slow to around 2.5% year-on-year, highlighting persistent weakness in household consumption. Fixed-asset investment is also seen subdued at roughly 1.9% year-to-date, reflecting ongoing caution among businesses and local governments.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1065\" data-end=\"1356\">Industrial production is a relative bright spot, projected to grow around 5.5% year-on-year, underpinned by export-oriented manufacturing and pockets of strength in high-tech sectors. Even so, export momentum is expected to cool as the year progresses, particularly if global demand weakens.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1358\" data-end=\"1616\">The property sector remains a key drag. Nationwide housing prices across China\u2019s 70 major cities are expected to stay in negative territory, though any signs of a slower pace of decline would offer tentative encouragement that the sector is nearing a bottom.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1618\" data-end=\"1912\">Looking ahead, economists expect growth to ease through the rest of 2026, with full-year GDP projected around 4.6%. The ongoing Middle East conflict, via higher energy costs and pressure on global demand, is seen as a growing headwind, squeezing corporate margins and complicating the recovery.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1914\" data-end=\"2202\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">Policy support is likely to remain measured. With growth tracking within Beijing\u2019s 4.5\u20135.0% target range, authorities may opt for incremental easing\u2014such as reserve requirement cuts\u2014rather than large-scale stimulus, while continuing to prioritise consumption support over the medium term.<\/p>\n<p>                            This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I posted a preview of the Australian jobs report here: For the Reserve Bank: despite a softening labour outlook, inflation risks tied to the energy shock remain the dominant concern. As a result, upcoming labour data is unlikely to materially shift near-term policy expectations. China\u2019s first-quarter GDP is expected to show a modest pickup in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-429542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429542\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}