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HONG KONG—China’s consumer inflation edged up in April and factory-gate price pressures remained elevated as Covid-19 lockdowns jammed up logistics networks and the Ukraine war pushed up global energy prices.China’s consumer-price index in April was up 2.1% from a year earlier, official data showed Wednesday, the fastest pace in five months—accelerating from March’s 1.5% and topping the 2% median forecast of economists polled by the Journal. HONG KONG—China’s consumer inflation edged up in April and factory-gate price…

Christopher Waller says there is no ‘magical formula in a textbook’ to guide central bank officials on how to reduce inflation without triggering unemployment. Photo: Bess Adler/Bloomberg News…

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said that lowering inflation is the U.S. central bank’s main mission now and he doesn’t think moving monetary policy to a more restrictive stance would cause a recession. “The challenge for monetary policy today is clear: to bring inflation down while maintaining a strong economy,” Mr. Williams said in a speech Tuesday in Germany. “I am confident we have the right tools to achieve our goals,” he said. Federal Reserve Bank of New…

Elevated and persistent inflation, coupled with a sharp rise in interest rates, are among the greatest near-term risks to the U.S. economic system, the Federal Reserve said Monday, while warning that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could also affect financial stability. “Further adverse surprises in inflation and interest rates, particularly if accompanied by a decline in economic activity, could negatively affect the financial system,” the central bank said in its latest semiannual…

Americans itching to travel this summer after navigating Covid-19 for the past two years face a new disruption to plans: the rising cost of travel.Inflation rose to 8.5% in March compared with the same month a year earlier, according to the Labor Department’s consumer-price index—the highest rate in four decades. Gas prices are up about 50% from a year ago. Hotel costs jumped nearly 30%, and airline fares rose 24%, while vehicle-rental costs jumped nearly 14%. April figures set to be released on Wednesday aren’t expected…

Chinese companies like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. BABA -5.79% are embracing buybacks and one-off dividends, handing cash to shareholders as they seek to shore up their battered stock prices and signal confidence in the long-term outlook. The dividend payouts and stock repurchases could help support a market that has been rattled by a series of challenges, which range from the economic impact of Beijing’s Covid-19 policies and sweeping regulatory crackdowns to concerns…

Longer-term inflation expectations ticked higher in April, according to a survey released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday, challenging the central bank’s efforts to bring price pressures down. Respondents to a poll by the New York Fed see inflation rising by 3.9% three years from now, up from a 3.7% rise they predicted in the March survey. Meanwhile, respondents believe inflation one year from now will rise by 6.3%, down from March’s 6.6% level. Longer-term inflation…

SINGAPORE—China’s trade with the rest of the world withered in April as Covid-19 lockdowns shut factories and crippled supply chains, adding to signs of a broad slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy. The pullback also reflects softening foreign demand as high inflation eats into consumer spending in the U.S. and Europe, economists say, underscoring the wider loss of momentum in a global economy grappling with rising interest rates and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. SINGAPORE—China’s trade with the rest of the…

Shoppers in a San Francisco grocery store earlier this month. Economists forecast that year-over-year readings for the consumer-price index started to ease in April. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News…

HONG KONG—As inflation soars around the world, the world’s second-largest economy has kept it at bay.Consumer prices in China increased just 1.5% in March from a year earlier, after rising 0.9% in 2021 from the year before.By contrast, the U.S. annual inflation rate was 8.5% in March and 7.5% in 2021, the steepest since 1982. In the eurozone, annual inflation reached a record 7.5% in April. Some 71% of 109 emerging and developing economies experienced 5% or higher inflation in 2021, twice as large as at the end of 2020,…