Group items tagged

German business confidence fell more than economists forecast in May,

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

double to A$450m

competition has increased

prices of vegetables and fruits increased 57.93 percent and 20.14 percent respectively.

Prices of egg, dairy products and fish and shellfish also moved up during the month.

wholesale price index fell 0.94 percent on an annual basis mainly due to decline in costs of basic metal and chemical materials

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.

China's slowdown and a rising yen for the expected fall.

As Japan continues to recover from a devastating earthquake and tsunami last year, the ministry said industrial production continued to improve.

Industries that contributed to the slight rise in output included transport, chemicals and electrical machinery.

"More crucial is final demand in China,

, demand from China would be the determining factor for continued growth

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.

The strategy focused on improving the quality of Target's products and in-store services.

The division has boosted food and liquor sales from $21 billion to an estimated $26.5 billion this year.

Several economists said the weak data strengthened the case for further interest rate cuts, following the ANZ forecast of another 0.75 percentage points in cuts by the end of the year.

"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

dragging down the annual increase

central bank will probably not raise Taiwan’s policy rates

rainy weather cut supplies and drove up costs

Expenses for eating out expanded by 2.38 percent last month

government’s recent cut to its full-year CPI growth forecast would further strengthen the central bank’s resolve in holding rates at their current levels

The figures are terrible for everyone and terrible for the government

economy to shrink

fiscal

S&P predicts the Spanish economy will shrink by 1.5 per cent this year, having previously forecasted growth of 0.3 per cen

It added that Spain's commercial banks are increasingly leaning to official sources for funds as they struggle to deal with piles of bad loans, especially in real estate.