China’s January Inflation Underwhelms — Factory Prices Still Stuck In The Doldrums

China’s consumer prices ticked up in January, but not by much — and factory-gate prices are still trapped in deflation, underscoring the weakness in domestic demand despite signals from Beijing that looser policy may be coming.

Official data showed the consumer price index rose 0.2% year-on-year in January, short of the 0.4% economists had pencilled in and down from December’s 0.8% jump. On a monthly basis CPI also rose 0.2%, missing the expected 0.3%. Strip out food and energy and core inflation climbed 0.8% year-on-year, easing from December’s 1.2%.