China’s new yuan loans rose by 1.36 trillion yuan in May, central bank data showed on Tuesday.

Household loans including mortgages were up 367.2 billion yuan in May, compared to a contraction of 241.1 billion yuan in April. Corporate loans rose to 855.8 billion yuan in May from 683.9 billion yuan in the previous month, according to data from the People’s Bank of China.

Outstanding total social financing grew 9.5%, down from a 10% increase in April.

The M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, rose 11.6% year on year to 282.05 trillion yuan at the end of May.

China’s consumer price index (CPI) edged up 0.2% in the twelve months to May, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Friday.

The producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, fell 4.6% year on year in May, compared to a 3.6% drop in April.

On a monthly basis, the CPI fell 0.2%. Core CPI, excluding volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.6% from a year earlier.

The drop in PPI was due to an overall downward trend in international commodity prices, weak demand in domestic and foreign industrial product markets, and the high comparison base during the same period last year, said NBS statistician Dong Lijuan.

Marriages in China last year hit the lowest since records began, according to data published by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Data showed 6.83 million couples registered for marriage in 2022, down by 800,000 from the previous year.

The number of couples tying the knot keeps dropping since 2014.

Last year, China’s population dropped for the first time in six decades.

China’s biggest state banks as well as several commercial banks lowered deposit rates.

China’s biggest banks known as the “Big Four” cut on demand deposits by 0.05%, three-year and five-year time deposits by 0.15%.

Commercial banks including China Merchants Bank, China Citic Bank and China Minsheng Banking cut rates on demand deposits by 5 basis points to 0.2%.

The lenders also lowered two-year time deposits rates by 10 basis points and three-year and five-year time deposits rates by 15 basis points.

The US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday but signaled more raises this year to bring inflation to its target rate.

“Holding the target range steady at this meeting allows the Committee to assess additional information and its implications for monetary policy,” said the Fed in its policy statement.

The Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a press conference that the rate hike pause was out of caution to allow the Fed to gather more information before determining on further rate raises.

The European Parliament passed the bloc’s landmark rules for artificial intelligence on Wednesday.

The rules known as the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act aim to promote the uptake of human-centric and trustworthy AI and protect the health, safety, fundamental rights and democracy from its harmful effects, said the EU legislative body in a statement.

The new rules would ban an AI systems for social scoring, biometric categorisation and emotion recognition.

The rules also require makers of AI systems like ChatGPT to disclose that content was AI-generated.

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US May inflation rises 4%, the lowest in 2 years 

 

The US inflation rate rose at an annualised rate of 4% in May, the lowest rise in more than two years, according to data from the Labour Department.

The consumer price index (CPI) edged up 0.1% in May on a monthly basis, which brings the annual level down to 4% from 4.9% in April. The increase was the smallest since March 2021.

Core inflation, excluding volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.4% in May.

Prices for shelter was the largest contributor to the monthly increase.

The operator of Japan’s damaged Fukushima nuclear plant began tests on Monday of facilities for discharging radioactive wastewater into the sea, the Associated Press reported.

The Japanese government announced its decision in April to release more than 1 million tons of radioactive wastewater from the storage tanks at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the sea.

Although treated, the water still contains radioactive tritium.

The plan has faced fierce protests from Japanese fishing communities and neighbouring countries, including South Korea, China and Pacific Island nations.