The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October rose by 0.3%, a little bit hotter than the 0.2% that was expected. If one strips out volatile food and energy prices to get the core consumer price index, prices were up 0.2%, also one tick higher than the 0.1% expected. A rise in energy prices was not unexpected. Heck, one only has to see what the price of crude oil and natural gas have done over the last month or so. For the month, the price of energy rose 1.5% overall. The rise was sharpest among energy commodities, like gasoline and heating oil, which rose by 1.9%. Energy services, like electricity rose a more moderate -- but still steep -- 0.9%. The rise in core consumer prices was a bit more of a surprise. However, the rising prices were very narrow, with almost all of the increases due to ...

Stocks are lower as an unexpected drop in home construction raised concerns about the pace of the economy’s recovery

The Commerce Department said construction of homes and apartments fell 10.6 percent in October to an annual rate of 529,000, well below the pace of 600,000 that economists polled by Thomson Reuters had predicted.

Building permits, a key indication for future activity, slid 4 percent to an annual rate of 552,000, also below the rate of 580,000 that analysts had forecast.

There was little reaction to a report that found inflation at the retail level remained tame as rising unemployment, nervous consumers and tight credit keep prices stable.

The Labor Department said consumer prices rose 0.3 percent in October, slightly above the 0.2 percent economists expected. Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, rose 0.2 percent, compared to expectations of a 0.1 percent rise.

A report released Tuesday on prices at the wholesale

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In September, the Producer Price Index rose by 0.3%. While this is an acceleration from the 0.6% decline in September, it is well below consensus expectations of a 0.5% increase. All of the price pressures were coming from food and energy. If they are stripped out to get the Core Producer Price Index, prices fell by 0.6% for the month -- a much faster decline than the 0.1% decline last month, and even farther below the consensus expectations of a 0.1% increase for the month. Both food and energy rose by 1.6% at the finished level in September. For energy, though, it was just a partial reversal of the 2.4% decline in September. In September, finished food prices fell only 0.1%. On a year-over-year basis, the total Producer Price Index is down 1.9%. However, last month the year-over-year decline was 4.8%. Thus on a year-over-year basis, the ...

The Consumer Price Index, or CPI rose 0.2% in September, down from a 0.4% increase in August and down 1.3% from a year ago. If food and energy prices are stripped out to get to core inflation, prices also rose 0.2%, up from 0.1% in August. Core inflation is up 1.5% from a year ago. On a year-over-year basis, those numbers are likely to flip in the coming months. Food prices actually declined slightly for the month, with a 0.1% decline in September reversing a 0.1% increase in August, and unchanged from a year ago. In particular, the price for food at home fell 0.3% in September after being unchanged in August. On a year-over-year basis, prices at the grocery stores are down 2.5%. This is not good news for firms like Kroger's (KR) and Supervalu (SVU). It is energy that is the big difference between ...

At the International Nanotechnology Forum, President Medvedev announced that the global nanotechnology market is worth $250 billion today, and may increase to $2 trillion to $3 trillion by 2015, placing it on a par with the natural resources market.  Russia will spend $10.7 billion by 2015 on its nanotechnology industry to diminish the country's reliance on raw materials.  Renault has apparently agreed to invest in ailing Avtovaz, under warnings from Vladimir Putin that the French company's stake may be diluted otherwise.  Russia's first IPO since the crisis could be undertaken by the Stem Cell Institute.  This month the central bank may reduce its key interest rate to a record low, says Bloomberg.  The rate of inflation has fallen to its lowest in two years as food prices dropped.  The government expects that the privatization of state property over ...

Let’s get this straight.

Household credit is shrinking… Profits are shrinking… Employment is shrinking… Housing values are shrinking… The wage base is shrinking…

But the recession is over!

Whoa… how is that possible?

This weekend’s news brought no surprises. For example, the housing picture is still depressing – unless you’re a buyer.

There’s “no bottom in sight” to Florida condo prices, says Barron’s. And Reuters warns that option ARM mortgages “are about to explode.” At least, that’s what the attorney general of the sovereign state of Iowa says. The option gives the homeowner the right to pay only the interest (or in some cases less than the interest) for the first few years. They’re sometimes called I.O. mortgages (interest only). And now these mortgages, written at the height of the bubble, are beginning to reset to more normal terms. According to Reuters 128,000 people in Arizona alone will face reset I.O. mortgages next year.

How

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The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% in August on a headline basis, a tick higher than consensus expectations of 0.3%. If food and energy are stripped out, prices rose 0.1%, in line with expectations. On a headline basis this follows an unchanged reading in July and a 0.7% increase in June. On a core basis it follows increases of 0.1% and 0.2% in July and June, respectively. The rise in the headline number was almost entirely a function of a 9.1% increase in gasoline prices. Food prices rose in line with the rest of the consumer shopping basket, up 0.1%. On a year-over-year basis it is a different picture, with core prices up 1.5%, while on a headline basis the CPI is down 1.4%. Once again, the key difference is energy prices. Given that the collapse in energy prices happened last fall, the differential in year-over-year prices between ...

According to various reports, central bankers from Saudi Arabia–whose capital Riyadh is slated as the home of a planned future regional central bank–are increasingly pessimistic as to the odds of the once much bally-hooed 2010 transition to a single Gulf currency and monetary union across the six-member GCC.  This despite the fact that prices rose 10.5% in the Kingdom in April, the fastest pace in over three decades, and UAE inflation touched the 20-year peak of 11.1% last year.  In the meantime, dollar pegs forced various countries to mirror declining U.S. interest rates despite windfall oil profits and domestic price increases.  Yet certain countries, such as Kuwait and Syria, have already dropped their dollar ties.  Moreover, there is scant evidence that dropping the peg did much for Kuwait’s inflationary pressures.  Some analysts reckon, for instance, that inflation is less tied to fuel and more tied to factors such as food prices, construction materials such

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Each year, generally in May, the Energy Information Administration publishes a less-than-eagerly-anticipated tome called the International Energy Outlook, 250+ pages of mind-numbing text, charts, graphs, and tables.

No one reads it. The mainstream media ignore it.

It’s the product of the best prognosticators in the Department of Energy. Okay, that may be what puts most people off. But if you’re patient enough to dig into it, it will cough up some fascinating nuggets of information.

The present edition is no exception. The report refrains from spelling out the conclusion that seems most obvious from its data. However, confirming a trend begun just last year, the 2009 edition clearly reveals that the government has been forced to admit that Peak Oil is coming. Moreover, it’s expected to arrive much faster than was believed as recently as two years ago.

This represents a remarkable turnaround in the agency’s opinion. Up until 2008, they were predicting unbroken

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Chinese stocks plummet, worldly markets follow… what’s behind today’s sell-off… Dan Denning on taking profits in the twilight of the U.S. stock rebound… India reports better-than-expected GDP growth… why our Mumbai partners are still hesitant… Another compelling argument against U.S. banks… Dan Amoss serves the cold, hard data… Plus, signs of the times: American’s vote to throw the bums out while the free market backlash hits Hollywood…

China has once again set the tone for our Monday market forecast. Roll the videotape:

Chinese traders dumped shares early this morning after a popular magazine rumored that the booming Chinese loan market is cooling off. Caijing magazine guessed that the Chinese loaned about $29 billion in August, a 43% crash from July. While that number isn’t official, traders around the red nation raced for the exits. The Shanghai Composite closed down 6.7%, its worst day in

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