Economic News

Chinese inflation jumped in February, driven by higher food costs. Consumer prices were up 2.7% last month from a year ago, against January's rate of 2.2%, the statistical office said. While there were still concerns about China's economy overheating and the growth of an asset bubble, a rate rise was probably not needed, analysts said. They added that inflation is set to slow later this year as global food prices drop and as government moves to slow the economy start to take effect. "We thi ...

LONDON (AFX) - Britain plans to introduce mandatory carbon emission "budgets" in its draft Bill on climate change, which will be published later this morning. Chancellor Gordon Brown gave the details in a speech last night, saying the measure would be Britain's first law, if enacted, that would set a target on greenhouse gas emissions. Publication of the Bill will be marked by an event ...

LONDON (AFX) - House price gains slowed abruptly in February, showing that the Bank of England's three rate hikes since August last year are starting to bite, according to a key survey. While house prices rose for the sixteenth consecutive month in February, the pace of increase slowed to its lowest since May 2006, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' latest survey found. The proportion ...

SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) - National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB) said its business confidence index, which measures expectations for the following quarter, rose to 12.0 points in February from 6.0 points in January after advancing 2.0 pts in January from December. The index is seasonally adjusted. NAB said the overall business conditions index - a composite of trading conditions, profitability and employme ...

WASHINGTON (AFX) - Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and the other policymakers on the interest rate setting panel should not be let their guard down on inflation because such complacency could itself lead to rising prices, a top Fed official said today. "Complacency would be a threat to the credibility that the Federal Reserve has worked so hard to acquire, and its loss would woul ...

LONDON (AFX) - US stocks look set to open higher later today, an hour earlier for the next two weeks after clocks in the US went forward, with markets taking their cue from solid gains in Asia and Europe with Schering-Plough in focus following a significant acquisition, dealers said. According to IG Index, the DJIA is expected to open around 15 points higher at 12,300 having closed 15.62 points b ...

LONDON (AFX) - The dollar was weaker against the euro as investors took profits on Friday's rally after robust US payrolls data. The dollar gained ground on the euro after payrolls data came in at 97,000 in February, slightly above expectations, while past months were revised up by a significant 55,000 and average earnings growth failed to slow down as expected by analysts. The unemployment rate  ...

SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) - The US dollar was slightly weaker against the yen and euro here as traders await fresh data to push currency pairs out of their current wide ranges, dealers said. They said the focus will turn to the US February retail sales due out on Tuesday followed by producer and consumer inflation for the same month on Thursday and Friday respectively, while a watchful eye will be kept o ...

SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) - Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) said its February survey of business expectations showed improvement over the previous survey taken in December when drought conditions in rural Australia, high gasoline prices and interest rate levels were more of concern. D&B said the survey's index for expected sales rose 13 points to a reading of five in the latest survey, with 29 pct of  ...

TOKYO (XFN-ASIA) - The Japanese economy expanded at its fastest pace in nearly three years in the three months to December, thanks to strong investments by Japanese firms as they ramped up capacity to meet booming demand for Japanese products such as fuel-efficient cars, government data showed. In addition, a turnaround in private consumption also helped the world's second-largest economy mark it ...