BEIJING | Sun Oct 14, 2012 10:37pm EDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's annual consumer price inflation ticked down to 1.9 percent in September from August's 2.0 percent, official data showed on Monday, leaving plenty of room for further policy easing to shore up growth.

The headline consumer inflation number matched the forecast of economists polled by Reuters.

Analysts say consumer inflation running well below the 4 percent annual target set by the government leaves room for policymakers do more to support the economy, which Q3 data due on October 18 is likely to confirm has suffered a seventh successively slower quarter of annual growth.

"This is little surprise in the inflation data. It's mainly caused by the drop in food costs," said Zhou Hao, an economist at ANZ Bank in Shanghai. "On monetary policy, we can only say that there is a little more room for further policy easing. Exports have showed signs of stabilisation, but the economy still needs some policy loosening."

The National Bureau of Statistics said China's producer price index in September dropped 3.6 percent from a year earlier, which was also in line with forecasts.

It marked the seventh straight month of producer price deflation, hurting corporate profits and underpinning expectations that consumer inflation will stay tame in the coming months.

The central bank is widely expected to ease policy further, having cut interest rates twice since June and trimmed banks' required reserves three times since November.

Easing consumer prices and outright falls in factory gate prices are signs that the world's second-biggest economy is struggling to escape the tug of a global slowdown that has set China on course for its weakest full year of growth since 1999.

Yi Gang, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said in a speech at last week's annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund that he expected inflation to be about 2.7 percent for the full year, with growth around 7.8 percent.

But he said signs of resurgence in property prices, which the government has fought for more than two years to rein in, posed a dilemma for policymakers.

Real estate directly affects about 40 different business sectors in China and the government-induced slowdown is widely regarded by analysts as putting an extra brake on the economy.

(Reporting by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Alex Richardson)

View the original article here

MEXICO CITY | Tue Oct 9, 2012 9:23am EDT

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican inflation accelerated to a new 2-1/2-year high in September as prices of fresh food continued to rise although analysts expect no immediate reaction from the central bank.

Annual inflation rose to 4.77 percent last month, up from 4.57 percent in August but just below the 4.78 percent expected in a Reuters poll, the national statistics agency said on Tuesday.

It was the highest rate since March 2010 and puts inflation even further above the central bank's 4 percent tolerance limit, which it has now overshot for four months in a row.

Still, Banco de Mexico Governor Agustin Carstens has said it is important not to move interest rates from their current 4.5 percent level prematurely, as the central bank is watching for signs that price pressures are spreading through the economy.

The latest increase in consumer prices was driven by a 14 percent annual rise in egg prices, following an avian flu outbreak this year in western Mexico, with overall agricultural prices up 16 percent, the statistics agency said.

Consumer prices rose 0.44 percent in September from August compared to an expected 0.45 percent rate and a 0.30 percent rise in August.

But the rate of increase in core prices eased. The core price index, which strips out some volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.18 percent compared to an expected 0.20 percent increase and a 0.22 percent rise in August.

Policymakers have said they expect the jump in prices to be transitory and the market is betting on stable interest rates through next year.

Still, analysts recently raised their forecasts for inflation this year to 4.15 percent, increasing their estimates in a central bank poll issued last week for the fourth month in a row.

(Reporting by Krista Hughes; Editing by James Dalgleish)

View the original article here

A shopper walks down an aisle in a newly opened Walmart Neighborhood Market in Chicago in this September 21, 2011 file photo.

NEW YORK | Fri Sep 28, 2012 10:23am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumer sentiment rose to its highest level in four months in September as Americans saw better prospects for the job market and economy, a survey released on Friday showed.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's final reading on consumer sentiment rose to 78.3 from 74.3 in August, the highest level since May.

Still, it was shy of economists' forecasts for 79, according to a Reuters poll, and gave up some of the advance seen in September's preliminary reading when the index climbed to 79.2.

Consumer expectations improved strongly, rising to 73.5 from 65.1, also the highest since May. More consumers expected the unemployment rate to fall than to rise, while twice as many survey respondents expected economic growth than those that anticipated a downturn.

Gains in home values and stock prices have also helped boost confidence and sentiment among households with incomes below $75,000 was at its highest level in five years.

But Americans' assessment of current economic conditions weakened to 85.7 from 88.7 amid concerns over their own finances. Twenty-nine percent said their financial situation had improved this month, down from 30 percent in August. In the year ahead, one-in-four households expected their finances to improve.

Consumers' inflation expectations for a year from now fell to 3.3 percent from 3.6 percent, while the five-to-10-year inflation outlook eased to 2.8 percent from 3 percent.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

View the original article here