US inflation eases in October. A key measure of US inflation subsided in October by more than forecast, offering hope that the fastest price increases in decades are fading and giving Federal Reserve (Fed) policymakers room to slow down their steep interest-rate increases. The consumer price index (CPI), a broad-based measure of goods and services costs, increased by 0.4 percent compared to the prior month and by 7.7 percent from the year ago period. Economists were expecting rises of 0.6 percent and 7.9 percent respectively. Excluding volatile items like food and energy costs, so-called core CPI increased by 0.3 percent for the month and by 6.3 percent on an annual basis. While the deceleration in core prices is welcome news, inflation remains much too high. Fed Chair Jerome Powell earlier this month said that the Fed needs to see a consistent pattern of weaker monthly inflation.

Eurozone investor confidence improves in November. Investor confidence in the eurozone rose more-than-expected in November on the back of an easing scenario in the European gas and electricity markets, survey results from the behavioral research institute Sentix showed Monday. The Sentix investor sentiment index climbed to a three-month high of -30.9 in November from -38.3 in October. Economist had predicted the gauge to rise more moderately to -35.0. This improvement is still not a trend reversal signal, the institute noted. "the rise in situation and expectation values shows how sensitively investors react in their economic expectations to signals from the energy market," Sentix Managing Director Manfred Huebner said in a statement.

German industrial output grows more than expected in September. German industrial production grew in September, despite a fall in the energy-intensive sectors and ongoing supply bottlenecks, official data showed on Monday. Output increased by 0.6 percent in the review month on the previous month, according to preliminary data from federal statistics agency Destatis. While the first estimate of third quarter gross domestic product growth came in at a surprisingly positive 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter, in contradiction of recession talk of recent months, the batch of September data paints a clearly more pessimistic picture.

UK house-buying demand falls at fastest pace since 2020. UK house prices fell at the sharpest pace in almost two years as rising mortgage rates and a pessimistic outlook for the economy depressed demand.  UK house prices fell by 0.4 percent in October after Liz Truss’s mini-budget drove a sudden rise in mortgage rates, the mortgage lender Halifax said. The fall in the average price to £292,598 was the third decline in the past four months and the steepest since February 2021. This led to the annual rate of growth in house prices to slow to 8.3 percent in October from 9.8 percent in September. "While a post-pandemic slowdown was expected, there's no doubt the housing market received a significant shock as a result of the mini-budget which saw a sudden acceleration in mortgage rate increases," Kim Kinnaird, director at Halifax Mortgages, said.

China consumer price inflation eases in October. China’s consumer price inflation cooled more than expected in October on weaker demand and lower producer prices for the first time since December 2020, official data showed on Wednesday. China's consumer price index rose by 2.1 percent year-on-year in October, lower than the 2.8-percent growth reported in September, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. China’s consumer price index has remained subdued due to lackluster domestic demand and Covid19 restrictions which were to some extent relaxed on Friday.

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