Economy

China's growth  

Experts on China's inflation: "Indicators flashing red" 

 

 China's inflation is falling at the fastest pace in over 14 years, missing analysts' forecasts.  

 

- The CPI data today show that China is facing persistent deflationary pressure, China must take action quickly and aggressively to avoid the risk of deflationary expectations becoming entrenched among consumers, says Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, to Bloomberg.  

 

At the same time, the country is grappling with major problems in the real estate sector, stock market declines and weak export earnings, writes the Financial Times.  

 

- A number of indicators are now flashing red, which signals a dangerous period for China's economy and financial markets, says Eswar Prasad, economics professor at Cornell and former head of the IMF's China department, to the FT.  

 

China's consumer prices fell 0.8 percent in January compared to the same month last year. Analysts had expected a decline of 0.5 percent. 

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 China's inflation falls - fourth month in a row  

 

China's consumer prices fell 0.8 percent in January compared to the same month last year. It was the fourth consecutive month of declines and the January outcome pointed to the steepest decline in over 14 years.  

 

This is reported by China's National Bureau of Statistics.  

 

Analysts had expected CPI to have declined by 0.5 percent, according to Trading Economics' consensus forecast. 

 

In December, the CPI fell 0.3 percent compared to the same month last year.  

 

Compared to the previous month, China's consumer prices rose 0.3 percent in January, 0.4 percent was expected.  

 

Food inflation was measured at -5.9 percent in January, compared to -3.7 percent the previous month, driven by continued falling pork prices.  

 

Excluding food and energy, the inflation rate was 0.4 percent in January, compared to 0.6 percent the previous month. 

  

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The crisis in Viaplay  

Amazon Prime takes over nine productions from Viaplay  

 

Pressed Viaplay sells nine drama productions to competitor Amazon Prime. This is stated in a press release, according to Dagens Media. These are two Swedish, five Norwegian and two Danish series. 

 

- The agreement with Viaplay is in line with our long-term strategy, says Prime Video Nordic's managing director Martin Backlund in the press release.  

 

The Swedish streaming giant has previously, among other things, gotten rid of Ronja Rövardotter, which has been described as the company's biggest drama venture to date. 

 

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The report flood  

Astra Zeneca believes in continued strong growth in 2024  

 

Astra Zeneca's turnover and results were in line with expectations. The dividend is left unchanged.  

 

Revenues increased by 16 percent, while earnings per share rose 5 percent. CEO Pascal Soriot is satisfied with the financial performance, as well as the scientific progress.  

 

For the current year, he expects continued "strong growth", and predicts growth in the range of 10-15 percent (low double-digit "teens").

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