China Consumer Prices Rise at Slowest Pace in 4 Months, Despite Stimulus

• China's consumer prices rose at the slowest pace in four months in October, while producer price deflation deepened, even as Beijing doubled down on stimulus to support the sputtering economy.
• In its latest stimulus measures, the country's top legislative body approved a 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) package on Friday to ease local government "hidden debt" burdens rather than directly injecting money, as some investors had hoped. Analysts say the package will likely do little to boost economic activity, demand, and prices in the near term.
• The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.3% from a year earlier last month, slowing from September's 0.4% rise and marking the lowest since June, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed, short of the 0.4% increase forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.
• The highly anticipated stimulus plan passed on Friday by the standing committee of the National People's Congress may leave investors who speculated on a fiscal bazooka disappointed, as it fell short of expectations for strong policy steps to boost consumption and reflate the economy.
• Finance Minister Lan Foan indicated on Friday that more stimulus was coming, telling a press conference that tax policies to support the housing market would come soon and that the authorities were accelerating the work of recapitalising banks.

(Source: Reuters)