Inflation tame in Japan and Germany

There were inflation reports yesterday from Japan and Germany.

From AFP/CNA:

The Japanese government said Friday core consumer prices rose 0.2 percent in July from a year ago as deflationary pressure continued to ease...

The August core consumer price index (CPI) for Tokyo - the leading indicator for national price trends released a month earlier - remained unchanged from a year earlier, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in its preliminary report...

The ministry claimed the calculation changes [in the CPI] technically pushed figures lower by some 0.5 percent.

From Germany:

The inflation rate in Germany, Europe's largest economy, fell below the European Central Bank's ceiling for the first time in five months in August.

Consumer prices rose 1.9 percent from a year ago compared with a rate of 2.1 percent in July, the Federal Statistics office in Wiesbaden said in a faxed statement, using a harmonized European Union method. That matched the median of 22 economist estimates in a Bloomberg news survey. Prices were unchanged from a month earlier.

Meanwhile, the UK reported second quarter GDP. From Reuters:

Consumer spending powered economic growth to its fastest rate in two years in the second quarter, keeping alive expectations interest rates will rise again in the coming months...

The Office for National Statistics said on Friday the economy grew 0.8 percent on the quarter and 2.6 percent on the year in the three months to June -- unrevised from an initial estimate last month.