good day the peoples bank of china is under scrutiny by beijing part of president xi jinpings push to curb capitalist forces in the economy while the pboc has worked for years to establish credibility among investors at home and abroad communist party inspectors from chinas top anticorruption agency have the wall street journal reports told the central bank that beijing has little tolerance for any talk of centralbank independence and it must answer to the party meanwhile the bank of canada kept its benchmark overnight interest rate at the ultralow level of 025 and its forward guidance unchanged while brazils central bank raised the selic to its highest level in more than four years and pointed to another increase in february as consumer prices continue to climb now on to todays news and analysis the peoples bank of china based in beijing is among some 25 financial institutions at the heart of the chinese economy now being scrutinized by state discipline inspectors the peoples bank of china has never been politically independent like a western central bank but it has nonetheless enjoyed a special status in the nations economic hierarchy now president xi jinpings shakeup of chinas financial sector is stripping that away earlier this week pressured by senior leaders worried about plunging economic growth the pboc said it would ease banks reserve requirements effectively making more cash available for bank lending the move went against policy signals it had sent weeks earlier and came as the central bank and other financial institutions came under scrutiny by beijing part of mr xis effort to curb capitalist forces in the economy financial stress at china evergrande group wont cause longerterm damage to the hong kong market and broader problems with debt at chinese property developers should be dealt with according to market principles chinas top central banker yi gang said worker filings for unemployment benefits are settling at prepandemic levels as a tight labor market keeps layoffs low economists surveyed by the wall street journal expect jobless claims a proxy for layoffs fell to 211000 for the week ended dec 4 from 222000 the previous week congress has repeatedly punted on changing studentloan programs among the reasons resistance to restricting disadvantaged students access to funds fear of angering universities and the fact that the programs  on paper  have historically made money for the government the covid19 pandemic drove the biggest increase in death benefits paid by us life insurers since the 1918 influenza epidemic a trade group said deathbenefit payments rose 154 in 2020 to 9043 billion the bank of canada on wednesday kept its benchmark overnight interest rate on hold and its forward guidance unchanged even as it warned that the omicron variant of covid19 had introduced more uncertainty into the countrys economic recovery brazils central bank raised its benchmark lending rate by 15 percentage points to 925 and signaled another increase of the same size at its next meeting the selic which was at a record low 2 in march is at its highest level in more than four years the justice department has informed deutsche bank the german lender may have violated a criminal settlement when it failed to tell prosecutors about an internal complaint in its assetmanagement arms sustainable investing business people familiar with the matter say brazilian digital lender nubank set for one of 2021s biggest ipos from its beginnings in 2013 offering creditcard services nubank has expanded to serve 48 million customers total revenue has topped 1 billion nearly twice the 535 million last year nubank had been losing money until the first half of this year when it posted a profit italys antitrust regulator fined amazoncom inc 13 billion for harming competitors by favoring thirdparty sellers that use the us companys logistics services the fine comes as amazon awaits the outcome of a similar investigation being carried out by the european union 2 pm bank of canadas gravelle speaks on the economy to surrey board of trade 405 am european central banks lagarde speaks on panel at bank for international settlements event similar living standards across us for the college educated the college educated enjoy pretty much the same standard of living regardless of where they live in the united states according to a new paper made public by the national bureau of economic research we find that for college graduates there is essentially no relationship between consumption and cost of living suggesting that college graduates living in cities with high costs of living  including the most expensive coastal cities  enjoy a standard of living on average similar to college graduates with the same observable characteristics living in cities with low cost of living  including the least expensive rust belt cities rebecca diamond of stanford university and enrico moretti of the university of california berkeley write by contrast their paper says that those without a college education face hits to their standard of living when living in costly cities this inflation defies the old models neither demand nor supply by itself is to blame for current inflation greg ip writes noting it was made possible only by strong demand interacting with restricted supply the us hasnt seen anything like this except perhaps in the aftermath of world war ii he adds workers are poised to take greater slice of the pie this might be labors moment the point when workers finally start grabbing a greater share of the economy leaving employers and investors with a little less but the federal reserves willingness to let that happen hasnt yet been put to the test justin lahart writes sovereign credit conditions will improve next year with fiscal balances forecast to strengthen for nearly 90 of rated sovereigns according to fitch ratings the ratings firm sees economic recoveries remaining subject to covid19 setbacks but expects them to become more entrenched allowing for policy tightening as some support measures are unwound dow jones newswires retail sales in brazil fell in october as a decline in sales in supermarkets and hypermarkets outweighed increased purchases of clothing and footwear sales fell by a seasonally adjusted 01 in the month and by 71 from a year earlier while september sales fell a revised 11 on month and declined a revised 52 from a year earlier the brazilian institute of geography and statistics said djn car sales in china declined for the sixth straight month as sporadic covid19 outbreaks in the worlds biggest auto market hit retail even as shortages of chips and components eased sales of passenger cars in november fell 127 from a year earlier to 182 million vehicles while januarynovember sales rose 61 from the same period last year the china passenger car association said djn chinas factorygate inflation ebbed in november after hitting a 26year high which economists say will give policy makers more room for easing to bolster a slowing economy the producerprice index rose 129 from a year earlier in november down from 135 growth in october the fastest increase since 1995 according to data released by the national bureau of statistics the reading beats the 12 increase expected by economists polled by the wall street journal djn german exports increased in october beating forecasts and surpassing prepandemic levels exports rose 41 on month in adjusted terms statistics office destatis said thursday economists had forecast a 11 increase in adjusted terms according to a poll by the wall street journal djn