A big jump in food prices – the largest single-month increase in 26 years – contributed to a Producer Price Index increase of 0.7 percent in March. Cold weather in Florida is being blamed for the increase in food prices, while rising gasoline prices also pushed producer prices higher.
Source: Associated Press
Higher gasoline prices helped push Canada’s inflation to 1.9 percent in January with all regions of the country experiencing an increase. The Bank of Canada Core Index rose 0.3 percent from December to January to 2.0 percent.
However, authorities are unlikely to see the recent increase as a sign of significant inflation creeping into the Canadian economy; when the cost of energy is excluded from the calculation, inflation was a more modest 1.3 percent.
Source: The Canadian Press
Bank of Canada
Higher gasoline prices pushed Canada’s annual inflation rate to a 10-month high in December, but the news is unlikely to knock the Bank of Canada off track in its pledge to hold interest rates steady for some time.
The consumer price index slipped 0.3 percent in December from November, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday. But 12-month inflation was 1.3 percent, the highest since the 1.4 percent rate of February 2009, due largely to the base effect of a steep decline in gasoline prices in December 2008. In November, annual inflation was 1.0 percent.
Still, the data was below market expectations and inflation was in the lower end of the Bank of Canada’s target range of 1 to 3 percent.
Source: Reuters
Bank of Japan
Japan’s government on Wednesday warned that deflation and high job losses could hurt a fragile recovery, maintaining a downbeat assessment of the economy in January.
In a monthly report, the government reiterated that it will work with the Bank of Japan to beat deflation and ensure an economic recovery, keeping pressure on the central bank to maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy.
“We must watch various risks as the economy could suffer a double dip or hit a soft patch ahead,” Keisuke Tsumura, a parliamentary secretary of the Cabinet Office in charge of compiling the report, told a news conference.
source CNBC
People's Bank of China
Chinese banking shares have fallen on reports of bank lending restrictions.
State media said Chinese authorities had instructed some banks to stop lending for the rest of January, amid fears about the risk of inflation.
The move has raised concerns about slow economic growth in China. Shares in both Bank of China and China Construction Bank fell 4%.
Last week, China’s central bank raised bank reserve requirements for the first time since June 2008.
source: BBC
Statistics Canada reported today that Retail Sales rose by 0.8 percent in August to $34.5 billion (USD$32.9 billion) due largely to an increase in gasoline prices and new car sales. Without gasoline and car sales included in the total, retail sales would have registered only a 0.4 percent increase.
Yahoo News
During the first nine months of the year, China’s economy grew at a rate of 7.7 percent with the third quarter realizing an 8.9 percent in GDP thanks largely to a stimulus plan that pumped 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) into a wide range of infrastructure projects. Despite the positive news, concerns over the state of the US economy – China’s number one customer – still has some analysts worried that once the effect of the stimulus spending has run its course, growth could slow if China’s trade partners are not able to pick up the slack.
Yahoo News
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