Another rough day for the Australian dollar with new 32 month lows set in Asian trading yesterday and in European and US trading overnight.

Yes, the Chinese economy is slowing, no it isn’t a basket case. But growth has definitely slowed from more than 8% at end of 2012 to the range of 7% to 7.5% (down slightly from the first quarter estimate of 7.8%).

So what’s the bigger story for investors – dollar down to new 32 month lows – or the Australian share market shedding most of this year’s gains and leaving those invested in the market and in the various forms of superannuation looking at a very limp end to 2012-23?

The fall in the market last month and so far in June, is getting close to wiping out the gains for the current year.

As forecast yesterday, the Australian economy grew modestly in the March quarter and in the year to March, thanks to strong exports (especially of iron ore) and retail sales (household consumption such as cars) which offset the slowing impact of the mining investment boom and a fall in government investment.

No rate cut from the Reserve Bank yesterday after its surprise cut last month.

If Australia had a solid quarter of growth in the three months to March, then we will be able to thank the sharp improvement in our trade position which is expected to add 1.0 percentage points to growth in the quarter, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday.

Suddenly the going is getting tougher in our biggest export markets of China, South Korea, India and Taiwan – in fact it seems that apart from rebounding Japan, the rest of Asia is now seeing a slowdown in activity in its most important sector – manufacturing.

Amid all the hype and type about quantitative easing, Fed easing/tightening, falling gold, oil, nervous investors and rising bond yield, there was an unlikely winner of the best performed major stock market last month – China.

The health of the Australian economy, interest rates, retail sales, trade and growth will be centre stage in the coming week, as will US employment, European interest rates, the health of manufacturing in major economies, while Chinese economic data for May is out next weekend.

Nervous May might have become June on Saturday, but that won’t have an impact on the local market opening.

The slowdown of the mining and resource investment boom seems to be happening faster than previously thought.

Should we start fearing Thursday trading on the Tokyo stock market?

More of the same uncertainty for another week?

Another week when the health of the fading Australian resources investment boom will be again tested, as well as the Chinese economy; local building approvals will get a run, and offshore the second estimate of US first quarter economic growth will be released, along with the usual monthly economic figures from Japan on employment, retail sales and inflation.

A bad day for jobs yesterday that will test the resilience of the country’s labour market that has so far shown unusual strength in 2013, with more than 95,000 jobs created in the first four months of the year.

A weak manufacturing report from China, worries about the future of the US Fed’s easing program, job losses at Ford and other companies and a general unease with the economy combined to knock more than $A30 billion off the value of local shares yesterday and rattled European markets overnight as well.