Question

Since Tuesday, I posted 3 articles and I asked about a brief summary and a critical analytical analysis of each article, using economic tools developped in microeconomics ( economic scrap book), but so far no one answer to my questions and I am wondring if I have to stay in this site because I am trying to reach or contact this group to help me but they do not answer my question.

This was the names of the 3 articles Below that I posted Tuesday and Wednesday. But no one answer so far

China’s Economy Grows Faster Than Expected on Strong Demand for Exports

Rising Services Costs Help Drive U.S. Business Prices Higher

"Subdued Inflation Data Ease Market-Volatility Worries"

Answer 1

China’s Economy Grows Faster Than Expected on Strong Demand for Exports

China's industrial output expanded faster than expected at the start of the year, suggesting the world's second-biggest economy has sustained solid momentum despite a crackdown on polluting industries and a campaign to reduce risks in the financial system. Industrial production, a rough proxy for economic growth, expanded by 7.2% in January and February from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday, well above the 6.2% pace in December and forecasts for a 6.1% rise by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. China's industrial output grew 7.2 percent in the first two months of the year compared with the same period last year, while fixed-asset investment growth quickened to 7.9 percent, both easily beating expectations. Consumer price inflation rose by more than expected, but producer price inflation slowed. But a clutch of readings so far suggest China's growth is still resilient, keeping a synchronised global recovery on track.

The export-demand strength was signaled last week in data showing an unexpected 44.5% surge in exports in February and a widening of China's global trade surplus. The rise in fixed-asset investment, a closely watched indicator of construction activity, beat economists' forecast for a 7.0% gain. Investment by state-controlled firms to the end of February grew 9.2% while that of private sector companies was up 8.1%. Private sector fixed-asset investment rose 8.1 per cent, compared with an increase of 6 per cent previous year. Reflecting China's growing focus on the production of higher-value goods, output of computers, telecommunications equipment and other electronics rose 12.1 per cent on year, extending a long period of double-digit growth.

Rising Services Costs Help Drive U.S. Business Prices Higher

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - U.S. producer prices increased slightly more than expected in February as a rise in the cost of services offset a decline in the price of goods.

The Labor Department said on Wednesday its producer price index for final demand rose 0.2 percent last month after increasing 0.4 percent in January.

That lifted the year-on-year increase in the PPI to 2.8 percent in February from 2.7 percent in January. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the PPI gaining 0.1 percent last month and increasing 2.8 percent from a year ago.

A key gauge of underlying producer price pressures that excludes food, energy and trade services rose 0.4 percent last month, matching January’s gain. In the 12 months through February, the so-called core PPI increased 2.7 percent. That was the biggest gain since August 2014 and followed a 2.5 percent advance in January.

The solid increase in underlying wholesale prices supports views that consumer inflation will pick up this year.

Economists believe that a tightening labor market, weak dollar and fiscal stimulus in the form of a $1.5 trillion tax cut package and increased government spending will push inflation toward the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target this year.

The U.S. central bank’s preferred inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index excluding food and energy, has undershot its target since May 2012.

The Fed has forecast three interest rate increases this year, with the first hike expected at the March 20-21 meeting. Some economists expect that it will raise its projection to four rate increases this year.

Last month, the price of services increased 0.3 percent after a similar gain in January. Services were boosted by a rise in the cost of hotel accommodation, hospital inpatient care, airline fares and bundled wired telecommunications services.

Prices for goods slipped 0.1 percent, the first drop since May 2017, after rising 0.7 percent in January. Wholesale food prices fell for a third straight month. Gasoline prices dropped 1.6 percent after surging 7.1 percent in January.

Subdued Inflation Data Ease Market-Volatility Worries

U.S. government-bond prices bounced Tuesday after closely watched data on consumer prices signaled inflation remains muted, easing concerns among investors that rising prices could spark a fresh wave of volatility in financial markets.

The yield on the benchmark Treasury 10-year note, which serves as a reference rate for corporate debt, mortgages and consumer loans, shot up by roughly half a percentage point in about five weeks earlier this year as investors piled into bets that prices were primed to rise. Many anticipated that a $1.5 trillion tax-cut package and a budget agreement expected increase spending by roughly $300 billion would help lift prices and could cause the Federal Reserve to accelerate the pace of interest rate increases.

Tuesday’s data were the most-recent sign that those expectations, which helped spur swings in financial markets earlier this year, may have been premature.

The Labor Department said the consumer-price index, which measures what Americans pay for everything from washing machines to hotel stays, rose 2.2% in the 12 months to February, below the 2.3% estimated by economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. Core prices, which exclude energy and food, rose 1.8% for a third straight month, also below economists’ expectations, suggesting that inflationary pressures are still soft.

Bonds strengthened following the report, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note dropping to 2.848% from 2.870% Monday and notching its lowest close since March 1. Yields fall as bond prices rise. Soft inflation is good for the value of bonds because it helps preserve the purchasing power of their fixed payments.

The price data came after last week’s jobs report showed tepid wage gains, suggesting that while the economy is continuing to grow, tight labor markets aren’t generating signs of overheating.

Throughout the year, investors and analysts have been asking whether signs of a pickup in inflation could push the Fed to raise short-term interest rates four times this year, rather than the three it has penciled in. Minutes of the central bank’s January meeting, which suggested policy makers were becoming increasingly hawkish, helped send the yield on the 10-year note to a multiyear closing high of 2.943% toward the end of February.

But by Tuesday afternoon, federal-funds futures, used by traders to place bets on the course of interest rates, showed a 32% chance of the Fed raising short-term interest rates four times by year-end, according to CME Group, down from 35% Monday but up from 17% one month ago.

And the 10-year break-even rate, a gauge that measures the bond market’s expectations for inflation over the next decade, edged lower: The difference in yields between Treasurys and the equivalent maturity of Treasury inflation-protected securities fell to 2.1081% on Tuesday from 2.1177% Monday, according to Thomson Reuters.

In another sign of investor doubts about inflation picking up, bondlike stocks—which have been among the worst-performing sectors in the S&P 500 in 2018—rose Tuesday, bucking a broader market decline.

Shares of utilities, regarded as bond proxies because of their relatively hefty dividend payouts, edged up 0.2% Tuesday, while the S&P 500 fell 0.6%. Meanwhile, shares of financial companies, whose net-interest margins rise with interest rates, slid with bond yields, with the S&P 500 financial sector ending the day down 1.1%.

Despite the day’s data, some investors warn that numerous factors could still fuel inflation, including a weaker dollar, which affects prices for commodities including oil, and rising tensions over trade.