NEWSWORTHY
U.S. retail sales post largest drop since 2009 as jobless claims surge
U.S. retail sales recorded their biggest drop in more than nine years in December as receipts fell across the board, suggesting a sharp slowdown in economic activity at the end of 2018. The economy's outlook was further dimmed by other data on Thursday showing an ...
Grocery shoppers in Turkey looking for a bargain were able to buy vegetables at unbeatable prices this week from an unexpected source: the local government. Turkish authorities have started setting up their own vegetable stands in a bid to force markets to lower food prices ...
The central bank is buffeted by the same factors as its global peers — and homegrown challenges that are tougher to tackle.
Bolsonaro says Brazil must reform or it will become the next Venezuela
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro pledged swift and sweeping measures to fix the economy and ward off what he said was a risk that Latin America's largest nation turns into a Venezuela-style regime. Plans to sell a large number of state-owned companies are nearly ready, and ...
Consumer prices rose a sluggish 0.9 percent last year, according to government data published Friday, as the world's third-largest economy continues its yearslong battle to stoke weak inflation. The annual figure is far below the central bank's inflation target of 2 percent and comes as ...
Bank of Japan to cut inflation forecast due to sharp fall in oil prices
The Bank of Japan is almost certain to cut its inflation forecast for the fiscal year starting in April given the sharp fall in oil prices, according to sources familiar with the matter. The government's decision to make preschool education free adds to the case ...
Maduro offers few fresh ideas as Venezuela's economy circles the drain amid seven-digit inflation
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro kicked off his new term with a state-of-the-nation speech on Monday but offered little in the way of fresh proposals to help the increasingly isolated country escape hyperinflationary collapse or a further downward spiral in 2019. The former bus driver began ...
Bank of Japan keeps stimulus unchanged at last policy meeting of year
The Bank of Japan left its stimulus settings unchanged at its final policy meeting of the year, as risks to inflation mount and the Federal Reserve signaled just hours before a slightly more dovish rate path ahead. The BOJ left its yield curve control program ...
Bank of Japan's ¥400 trillion cash injection changes little for ordinary people
It's been the most radical cash injection in history — nearly ¥400 trillion pumped into Japan's economy over more than five years to slay deflation and kick growth into higher gear. That's still not enough to save Tomoaki Nagai's metal parts factory near Osaka, and ...
Former central bank official blames Japan's low inflation on rising labor productivity
An increase in workforce participation and improvements in labor productivity are among key factors keeping inflation low, former Bank of Japan Deputy Gov. Hiroshi Nakaso said Tuesday. He said the aging population is driving companies to beat labor shortages by automating operations and abandoning the ...
Japan's inflation held steady at 1.0% in October, but could wane in coming months
Japan's underlying inflation rate held steady at 1.0 percent in October, government data showed Thursday, though a recent fall in global oil prices could weaken momentum. The year-on-year increase in core consumer prices, which exclude fresh food prices because of their volatility, was unchanged from ...
Bank of Japan's price forecasts are headed for another crash with oil
The sharp slide in oil prices threatens to halve Japan's inflation rate over the next six months, while cheaper mobile phone bills and free nursery education could even push it below zero. This view from private sector economists is very much at odds with the ...
