BEIJING, May 11 — China’s consumer prices ticked up in April as the cost of crude oil rose globally due to the Iran war, official data showed today.

Helped by the surging oil costs, factory gate prices also continued to show signs of recovery, rising for a second straight month after being stuck in negative territory since October 2022.

However, analysts warn deflation is still a threat for the world’s second-largest economy as prices in other sectors continue to fall and overcapacity remains a headache.

China’s consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, last month rose 1.2 per cent year-on-year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

The jump was due to “changes in international crude oil prices and increased demand for holiday travel”, according to Dong Lijuan, chief NBS statistician.

Domestic gas prices rose 19.3 per cent on-year, Dong said, impacted by international commodity price fluctuations.

A five-day holiday at the beginning of May also typically sees more travel and spending in the weeks preceding it.

However, last month’s CPI was still well below the government’s two per cent target for the year.

The April producer price index (PPI), which measures wholesale inflation, increased by 2.8 per cent on-year — up from 0.5 per cent in March.

It beat a Bloomberg forecast of 1.8 per cent and marked the quickest pace since July 2022, when the PPI rose by 4.2 per cent on-year.

The gauge slipped into negative territory that October and did not reverse until March.

“The rise in international crude oil prices drove up prices in domestic petroleum-related sectors,” the NBS’ Dong said in a statement, listing fuel processing and manufacturing of raw materials.

But analysts warn shocks caused by oil blockages in the Middle East are temporary.

“The fallout from the Iran War pushed up inflation again in April but price pressures remain narrow in scope and aren’t likely to build into a wider reflationary impulse”, Capital Economics said in a note.

“(With) overcapacity in most sectors unresolved and domestic demand growth still sluggish, the ingredients for a sustained reflationary impulse still appear to be missing.” — AFP

WASHINGTON, May 9 — US employment rose more than expected in April, alleviating some concerns about the health of the world’s largest economy even as one measure of consumer confidence came in at its lowest-ever level.

“Total nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 115,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3 per cent,” the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said on Friday.

US consumer confidence, however, was an all-time low according to a University of Michigan survey, with Americans weighed down by concerns about high prices and the fallout of the US-Israel war on Iran.

The university’s Index of Consumer Sentiment came in at 48.2 in May 2026, its lowest level since data collection began in 1952, according to the survey’s website.

Friday’s data illustrated the complicated issues faced by the US economy. Job growth has see-sawed between expansion and contraction for the last year, and inflation has remained stubbornly high since the pandemic.

While April’s jobs data showed growth, economists have expressed concern that the zig-zagging employment data is due to underlying weakness in economic growth.

Nonetheless, the figure is likely to reassure Federal Reserve officials that they can hold interest rates steady for now, as surging energy costs due to the Iran war fan inflation fears.

Friday’s jobs data beat analyst expectations, with economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal expecting growth of 55,000.

The White House welcomed the new data, with spokesperson Kush Desai calling it “yet another sign that the American economy remains on a solid trajectory under President (Donald) Trump.”

Reliance on health care

Last month’s jobs gains mainly came in the health care, transportation and warehousing, and retail trade sectors.

The health care sector has been a consistent performer as the US population ages, driving job growth over the last two years.

In April, the sector’s gains were mainly in nursing and residential care facilities.

Transportation and warehousing rose in April, but was still down by 105,000 from its peak in February 2025.

Federal government employment continued to decline. Trump has taken a hatchet to the sector, shutting down entire agencies and pressuring workers to quit.

Employment in the sector is down by 11.5 per cent — or 348,000 jobs — from its peak in October 2024.

The information and computing sector continued a recent trend of contraction, down 11 per cent from its most recent peak in November 2022.

The new BLS report also revised figures for February and March, showing 16,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.

The US unemployment rate has remained relatively steady around 4.3 per cent despite the tumult in labour demand, with economists attributing it to a drop in labour supply.

‘Risky’

Dan North, senior economist at Allianz Trade, warned that US jobs growth has been overly reliant on health care in recent months.

“Over the last 24 months, health care has created 81 per cent of the private sector jobs — everything else, 19 per cent,” he told AFP, calling it a “risky” way to run the economy.

Nancy Vanden Houten, lead US Economist at Oxford Economics, said that if health care were excluded, “job growth was negative over the last 12 months.”

North said that over-reliance and the continuing see-sawing of the labour market were of concern, presenting worrying signals for the overall economy.

Others were more upbeat, with Northlight Asset Management’s Chris Zaccarelli saying the April jobs data showed “the economy is so much better than what the doom crew has been saying”.

Nationwide Chief Economist Kathy Bostjancic said the jobs data was welcome at a time of economic headwinds due to the Iran war.

“While higher gasoline prices will curtail consumer spending, especially hitting lower-income households, the strong labour market will offer an offset,” she said.

EY-Parthenon economists Gregory Daco and Lydia Boussour said in a note issued before Friday’s report that they expected “a largely frozen labour market” for the rest of the year, due to overlapping supply shocks, including the effects of the Iran war. — AFP

CEBU, May 8 — ‌Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said today the regional bloc Asean was standing together to demonstrate its capacity to respond with unity and resolve amid uncertainty ‌and volatility in the ⁠Middle ⁠East.

Marcos, as ⁠chair of the ⁠Association ⁠of South-east Asian Nations, told ⁠a summit of its leaders that the war in Iran ⁠was challenging the 11-member grouping to remain agile ⁠amid “considerable challenges across ⁠our ⁠region and beyond”.  — Reuters