US industrial production unexpectedly stalled in April after a 0.7% gain in March, led by a drop in auto production after parts supplies were disrupted by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
US housings starts unexpectedly fell in April as flooding and tornadoes in the South shut down construction sites. Work began on 523,000 houses at an annual pace, down 11% from the prior month
UK inflation accelerated to 4.5% in the year to April, boosted by a jump in travel costs as Britons headed abroad during the Easter holidays.
Japan's service sector in March saw its sharpest fall in 22 years, as the March earthquake and Tsunami destroyed infrastructure and businesses in the northeast, and virtually halted all nonessential economic activities nationwide
Bank of Korea Gov Kim Choong-soo said on Wednesday that he expects the country's consumer prices to remain at an elevated level for some time, supporting market expectations that the central bank will continue its monetary tightening
Euro zone finance ministers approved a three-year EUR 78 bn emergency loan program for Portugal this week. Meanwhile, the ministers also floated the idea of extending Greece’s debt-repayment schedule, saying that last year’s EUR 110 bn rescue has failed to restore the country to financial health. Europe would consider “reprofiling” Greek bond maturities as part of a package including stepped-up sales of state assets and deeper spending cuts.
Overnight, US stocks retreated, sending benchmark indexes to 1-month lows, as a reduced sales forecast at HP and an unexpected decline in housing starts damped optimism about the economic recovery.
Today, most Asian stocks rose amid takeover speculation in Australia’s media industry, and after Tokyo Electric Power Co. presented a detailed plan for stabilizing a stricken nuclear-power plant. The Indian equity benchmarks opened flat despite positive cues from Asian markets. Barring capital goods, FMCG, and IT stocks, all other sectoral indices were in red at the time of writing.
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