P.M. BRIEFING : Cunsumer Prices Jump in Japan
Consumer prices in Tokyo, one of Japan’s leading economic indicators, jumped 3.1% in October for the biggest monthly leap in more than six years, a government agency reported today.
The rise in consumer prices from the same month a year ago surprised analysts and sent short-term interest rates upward. The consumer price index was up 1.1% from the month before, the Management and Coordination Agency said.
Economists had been predicting some increase due to higher oil prices, but the figures exceeded most forecasts, which had the rise pegged at 3% or less.
Skyrocketing food prices compounded the effect of costlier oil, an agency spokesman said. Fresh food prices leaped because of a string of typhoons that hit Japan in late summer.
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