Economic News

LONDON (Reuters) - Public finances unexpectedly swung into the black in April, marking a strong start to the new fiscal year, official data showed on Friday. But back revisions put borrowing for the year ending March 2006 even further above Chancellor Gordon Brown's forecast than first thought. The Office for National Statistics said the government's preferred accruals-based measure of public fi ...

Germany has seen the fastest increase in producer prices for nearly 24 years, adding to fears about inflationary pressures in Europe's biggest economy. Prices paid by German firms for industrial products went up 6.1% compared with a year earlier. On a monthly basis, prices rose 1%. Big rises in energy prices and raw material costs are largely to blame. "Industry consumers had to fork out substantially more [for energy]," said the Federal Statistics Office. Energy prices increased by 20.4% ov ...

Japan's economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter of 2006 - prompting speculation that zero interest rates may soon end. Official data from the Bank of Japan showed that the country's economy grew by an annualised rate of 1.9% - nearly double what analysts had expected. The bank said the economy was "expected to expand" after earlier saying it would "recover steadily". But it added that it had no time scale for upping interest rates. GDP rose 0.5% compared to the last quarter of ...

Ros SnowdonDeputy City EditorNATIONWIDE, the UK's biggest building society, reported record annual profits yesterday but said its mortgage business had suffered over the year.The group deliberately reined in its mortgage lending last year on fears that the housing market could collapse. This did not materialise and the group is now predicting house price inflation of between three and five per cen ...

By Yoko Nishikawa TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's economy grew faster than expected in the first three months of the year on resilient capital spending and consumption, fuelling expectations that the Bank of Japan may soon end an era of zero interest rates. Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 0.5 percent in real, price adjusted terms in the January-March quarter from the previous quarter, Cabinet Office data showed on Friday. Market forecasts had centred on a rise of 0.3 percent. The expansion t ...

Japan grew at an annualised rate of 1.9 per cent in the three months to March this year, somewhat better than expected, with domestic demand clearly ahead of net exports as the economy’s main driver. // The performance brings real growth in gross domestic product, for the year to March, to 3.0 per cent, the fourth consecutive year of growth. Toshihiko Fukui, Bank of Japan governor, said that if  ...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's economy grew faster than expected in the first three months of the year on resilient capital spending and consumption, fuelling expectations that the Bank of Japan may soon end an era of zero interest rates. Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 0.5 percent in real, price adjusted terms in the January-March quarter from the previous quarter, Cabinet Office data showed on ...

PHILADELPHIA (Dow Jones) -- There is a danger for the economy from rising prices, said St. Louis Fed president William Poole on Thursday. "The risks on the inflation side are tilted to the upside," Poole told reporters following a speech to a business group here. Poole said upside inflation surprises in the past months have been small, "but persistent." He noted that core CPI inflation on ...

Treasury prices rallied to a higher close Thursday, pressuring yields, after safe-haven interest was stirred by an unexpected drop in leading indicators and a remark by a Conference Board economist that the economy is not accelerating. Prices also drew support from news of the largest increase in initial weekly jobless claims since the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The benchmark  ...

CHICAGO (Dow Jones) -- In a volatile week for stock and bond markets, mortgage rates barely budged, leaving fixed-rate loans near four-year highs. The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.60% nationally in the week ending Thursday, up from 6.58% a week ago, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Last year at this time, the 30-year loan averaged 5.71%. The 30- year mortgage has no ...