GDP, industrial output in Japan revised down, little inflation in China

Japan today saw downward revisions to two previously-reported data. GDP growth in the January-March quarter was revised down to 1.2 percent from an earlier estimate of 1.3 percent, while industrial output in April was revised down to a month-on-month rise of 1.9 percent from an initial estimate of 2.2 percent.

Meanwhile, there is still scant inflation in China. The National Bureau of Statistics reported today that China's consumer price index in May rose 1.8 percent from a year earlier, the same rate as in April. Consumer prices in Chinese cities reportedly rose 1.4 percent on an annual basis in May while in rural areas they rose 2.4 percent.

So is China cooling? A recent Reuters report indicate that even property prices there may be slowing down.

According to figures compiled by China Index Academy, a property research group, prices in Shanghai rose 14.78 percent in January from a month earlier, but just 0.45 percent in February and fell 0.45 percent in March before rising 1.05 percent in April. In Beijing, prices rose 5.86 percent in January from December, were flat in February, and then rose 0.69 percent in March and 0.49 percent in April.