Thanks for joining me. China’s consumer prices are falling at their fastest pace in 15 years, leaving the world’s largest economy battling with the effects of deflation.
Its consumer prices index fell by 0.8pc in January, delivering another blow to Beijing amid a property crisis, soaring youth unemployment and a global slowdown that is hammering demand for Chinese goods.
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1) Britain’s first private nuclear power station to open in Teesside | Small modular reactors on the bank of the Rover Tees will be in operation by early 2030s
2) Parcel courier Yodel prepares to call in administrators | Hopes of rescue deal fade after delivery company struggles to find buyer
3) Giorgia Meloni goes to war with Italy’s carmaking royalty | The prime minister is taking the fight to the influential Agnelli family as her nationalist position comes under scrutiny
4) Cut benefits bill instead of relying on migration to bring down debt, says OBR chief | Plus: David Miles warns that welfare reform is vital to shore up Britain’s finances
5) Matthew Henderson: The West hasn’t grasped the scale of the disaster facing China | Our treasured illusions about how Xi will react to his country sinking are about to unravel
What happened overnight
Tokyo stocks surged driven by gains in tech shares, while a fresh central bank comment about maintaining an easy monetary environment encouraged buyers.
Japanese investment giant SoftBank Group reported a net profit of 950 billion yen (£5.1bn) for the final three months of 2023, returning to the black after four consecutive quarterly losses.
Hong Kong’s benchmark fell while Shanghai advanced after China replaced its top stock market regulator.
Beijing has been struggling to prop up what have been some of the world’s worst-performing markets this year. Late Wednesday, China’s top stock regulator was replaced by a former chairman of the Shanghai Stock Exchange as part of those efforts.
Wu Qing, also a former banker and ex-vice mayor of Shanghai, has been dubbed the “broker butcher,” analysts say, due to his record for cracking down on market abuses such as insider trading.
The Shanghai Composite index gained 1.2pc to 23,862.31 and the Shenzhen Components index in China’s smaller main market surged 2.2%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9pc, to 15,941.66 on heavy selling of technology companies, despite strong gains for property developers.
Wall Street rose to the edge of another record-breaking milestone yesterday as Ford, Chipotle Mexican Grill and other big stocks climbed following their latest earnings reports.
The S&P 500 got within a fraction of a point of the 5,000 level before ending the day at 4,995.06. The index rose 0.8pc, to set another all-time closing high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4pc, to 38,677.36, and the Nasdaq Composite index gained 0.9pc, to 15,756.64.
In the bond market, US Treasury yields held relatively steady. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury bonds edged up to 4.11pc from 4.09pc late on Tuesday.
