Surprise jump in October US CPI but inflation moderate elsewhere

It was mostly about inflation yesterday. Reuters covers the US CPI:

Consumer prices gained 0.2 percent last month, topping Wall Street forecasts for a flat reading as the largest housing cost gain in nearly five years overwhelmed a dip in energy prices. Excluding food and energy, prices also gained 0.2 percent in the month...

Over the past year, consumer prices have jumped 4.3 percent, but core inflation has remained relatively tame, up 2.1 percent in the same period.

...as well as weekly earnings and business inventories:

In a separate report, the Labor Department said real average weekly earnings rose 0.4 percent in October, the first gain in four months and the largest since July 2004.

A report out of the Commerce Department showed business inventories grew a faster-than-expected 0.5 percent pace in September but remained historically lean, indicating stronger stock rebuilding may be on the cards.

Meanwhile, Eurostat affirmed its earlier euro-zone inflation estimate:

Euro-zone annual inflation was 2.5% in October 2005, down from 2.6% in September. A year earlier the rate was 2.4%. Monthly inflation was 0.3% in October.

EU25 annual inflation was 2.4% in October 2005, down from 2.5% in September. A year earlier the rate was 2.3%. Monthly inflation was 0.2% in October.

And the Bank of England appears sanguine about inflation in the UK.

Interest rates could stay on hold for months to come, the Bank of England indicated on Wednesday, when it said inflation was on course to meet its 2.0 percent target.

In China, the People's Bank of China had reported on Tuesday that its commodities price index had dropped 0.3 percent in October but had risen 0.9 percent from last October's report while the CPI had risen 2.9 percent year-on-year for the January-October period. Yesterday came news that investment growth in China remains strong.

Investment in China's factories, roads and other fixed assets grew 27.6 percent in the first 10 months of the year... Fixed-asset investment in towns and cities climbed to 5.58 trillion yuan ($690 billion), the Beijing-based National Bureau of Statistics said on its Web site. For October alone, investment rose 27.2 percent.