China's online retail sales of goods and services went up 6.6% year over year in the first four months of 2026, the Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.
Online goods sales contributed 72% to total consumer retail growth.
Agricultural product e-commerce rose 12%, while metal products soared 35%.
Online sales in tourism increased 33% and catering climbed 20%.
More German companies are still planning layoffs amid "weak" economic development, but the job cuts "somewhat" slowed in May, the Ifo Institute said Wednesday.The ifo Employment Barometer edged up to 93.9 points in May from April's 91.4 points. However, ifo head of forecasts Timo Wollmershäuser noted that companies "remain cautious in their personnel planning."While manufacturing, retail and wholesale continue to shed jobs, the service sector recovered from the prior month's slump. Meanwhile, labor market conditions in logistics and tourism are still "difficult," and the construction industry's situation was "virtually unchanged."
France's household confidence indicator dropped to 82 points in May 2026, marking its lowest overall level since March 2023.A month earlier, the reading was 84 points, according to data from the national statistics agency Insee published Wednesday. The indicator moved further away from the long-term average of 100 points.Analysts expected 83 points for the month.
April's inflation data for Australia showed only modest signs that higher input costs were flowing through to the broader inflation basket, ANZ Research said in a note on Wednesday.Australia's consumer price index (CPI) rose 4.2% in the 12 months to April, down from a 4.6% increase in the year to March, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported. Trimmed mean inflation came in at 3.4% in the 12 months to April, up from 3.3% in the year to March.On a three-month annualized basis, trimmed mean inflation is only just above the top of the central bank's target band, at 3.1%. There were signs of second-order impacts materializing, but they were relatively contained to expenditure categories.The fact that there was little evidence of a rise in purchase price growth flowing through to the April CPI data suggests that it may be more challenging for businesses to pass on costs quickly.The major supermarkets lifted the price of foods such as milk in late April, which may lead to inflation accelerating in the food group in May.It continues to expect the Reserve Bank of Australia to keep rates on hold at 4.35%.