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Consumer prices grew by 3.6% in March from a year earlier, up from 3.2% in February. Analysts had forecast an increase of 3.3%.

set a target of 4% for 2012.

central bank to hold back on monetary policy easing for now.

stronger-than-expected inflation could slow down the pace of monetary policy relaxin

China's economy grew by 8.9% in the three months

slowest pace of growth in more than two years.

markets such as the US and eurozone.

slowing demand for its exports

China's central bank has been easing its monetary policy in recent months.

sustain its pace of growth

boost

cut the amount of money banks must keep in reserve

sustain economic growth

speculation that the central bank may cut the cost of borrowing in a further attempt to boost growth.

money at low rates may push consumer prices higher.

consider a plan under which the central bank buys construction bonds directly from the government

expectations for drastic monetary easing by the central bank. Abe's repeated calls for "unlimited" monetary easing, aimed at beating the deflation, sparked such expectations.

In futures trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the lead December contract on 10-year JGBs edged down 0.08 point from Friday to end at 144.62. Volume decreased to 25,289 contracts from 33,371.

"We doubt it will be enough to get the economy on the right track. It's only a matter of time before speculation begins as to when the Fed will raise its purchases from $40bn a month."

the central bank buys bonds to keep the long-term cost of borrowing down.

The unemployment rate in the US has been above 8% since January 2009, but the current 8.1% is down from the recent high of 10% in October 2009.

US presidential election.

Ben Bernanke also lowered the Fed's growth forecast for the US economy to 2% this year, down from the 2.4% it predicted in June

"The committee is concerned that, without further policy accommodation, economic growth might not be strong enough to generate sustained improvement in labour market conditions,

Federal Reserve to buy more debt to boost US economy

0.4% in first three months of this year, after shrinking by 0.3% in the final quarter of last year.

Spanish retail sales were down 3.7% in March from the same point a year ago, the 21st month in row sales have fallen.

The rate has risen sharply since April 2007, when it stood at 7.9%.

The new government has announced reforms to the labour market, including cutting back on severance pay and restricting i

nflation-linked salary increases, that it hopes will ease the problem.

The government has also introduced drastic spending cuts designed to reduce its debt levels and meet deficit targets agreed with the European Union. These cuts are contributing to Spain's economic contraction.

S&P predicts the Spanish economy will shrink by 1.5% this year, having previously forecast 0.3% growth.

"We believe that the new government has been front-loading and implementing a comprehensive set of structural reforms, which should support economic growth over the longer term," S&P said. "In particular, authorities have implemented a comprehensive reform of the Spanish labour market, which we believe could significantly reduce many of the existing structural rigidities and improve the flexibility in wage setting."

The yield on 10-year bonds rose to 5.96%, up from 5.81%, suggesting investors were becoming more wary of Spain's ability to repay its debts.

German business confidence fell more than economists forecast in May,

consumer spending also rose more than projected last month, increasing 0.6 percent

decide interest rate policy.

central bank policymakers with a "tricky call".

government cut fuel subsidies, which will force up prices.

The fundamentals don't justify a rate cut at this point of time because the inflationary expectations are still quite high.

The quantitative easing in the US is also likely to push up global commodity prices and add to inflation

needs a boost from lower interest rates

industrial output rose by just 0.1%

higher oil prices raise costs and threaten profitability

Oil prices initially rose on Thursday as the euro rallied and a Nigerian union threatened to shut down output, but they later eased on a report that the European Union could delay a ban on Iranian exports by six months. U.S. February crude oil was down 1.6 percent at $99.26 a barrel after earlier reaching above $102.

European law requiring airlines to pay for aircraft emissions.

d a $3 surcharge each way unveiled by Delta on fares purchased in the United States for flights between the United States and Europe

apparent capital outflow from China due to the weak economic situation

outflow occurred as the yuan weakened against the US dollar

exchange rate fell from 6.3146

to 6.3449

predicts the outflow to cease

quantitative easing moves by the US Federal Reserve may increase liquidity worldwide and fuel the risk appetite of investors