The Sweden-headquartered furniture retailer Ikea has confirmed that it will open its second outlet in Beijing in Xihongmen, Daxing district. It is expected that the new Xihongmen Ikea project will cover a total construction area of 150,000 square meters, including business buildings, offices, and subsidiary facilities. The project is reportedly going to start construction in July 2010, [...]

Well, as Claus pointed out in his last post, Japanese data is pretty much a mixed bag at the moment. Industrial output shot up in April, and the May PMI data suggested that the easing of manufacturing contraction continued in May. However household spending and retail sales fell, unemployment rose, and the CPI reading suggested the Japanese economy is once more getting itself firmly wedged in inflation territory. So while the industrial data offers some much needed short term relief, the mid term outlook is still pretty bleak. Industrial Output Surges Well, as Bloomberg kindly pointed out, industrial output surged the most in 56 years in April. Production rose 5.2% from March, marking the second monthly gain, according to data from the Trade Ministry. The increase was faster than the 3.3 percent consensus forecast, and companies ...