Friday's data on China's economy show few signs of cooling. From Bloomberg:
China’s gains in retail sales, consumer prices and industrial production countered the government’s assessment that the recovery isn’t “solid,” and put more pressure on policy makers to let the yuan rise.
Inflation accelerated to an annual 3.1 percent pace in May, surpassing officials’ target for the full year, retail sales gains quickened to 18.7 percent and industrial production jumped 16.5 percent, government reports showed yesterday in Beijing...
Industrial production growth eased from a 17.8 percent year-on-year rate in April. Urban fixed-asset investment rose 25.9 percent on that basis in the first five months of the year, compared with 26.1 percent in January-April.
A report from AFP/CNA shows that the Indian economy has also been growing rapidly.
India's industrial output grew by 17.6 percent in April from a year earlier, beating market forecasts, official data showed Friday, in the eighth straight month of double-digit expansion.
It is a different story though in the UK, as Bloomberg reports:
U.K. manufacturing unexpectedly weakened in April for the first time in three months as car production dropped, a sign the economic recovery may be struggling to keep momentum.
Factory output fell 0.4 percent from March, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. Economists predicted a 0.5 percent increase, according to the median of 25 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. A separate report showed producer prices rose 0.3 percent in May, less than the median forecast for an 0.5 percent increase.
Friday also saw a weak report on US retail sales. Again from Bloomberg:
Sales at U.S. retailers unexpectedly dropped in May for the first time in eight months, indicating the rebound in consumer spending is cooling as Americans boost savings.
Purchases fell 1.2 percent, led by a record plunge in demand at building-material stores that may reflect the end of a government rebate on sales of energy-saving appliances, according to figures from the Commerce Department issued today in Washington...
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment increased to 75.5, the highest since January 2008, from 73.6 in May. The gauge was projected to rise to 74.5, according to the median forecast in a survey of 65 economists.
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