China’s factory prices (PP) jumped last month despite authorities' continued attempts to curb industrial production to combat pollution. China's PPI rose 6.9% in October Y/Y, higher than the projected 6.6% while consumer prices climbed 1.9%, also higher than the median forecast of 1.8%, and above last month's 1.6% Y/Y increase.
As Bloomberg notes, during last month's Party Congress policymakers signaled a shift away from the growth-at-all-costs model amid greater focus on curbing pollution and taming financial risk, although it appears that the recent upward momentum in prices has persisted. China has stepped up restrictions on steel mills and aluminum factories before winter, when pollution levels are often at their worst in the northern part of the country.
PPI has stayed at an elevated level because of supply-side reforms, production cuts due to pollution cleanups and the reaction to slower gains a year ago, Shenyin & Wanguo Securities analysts wrote in a note ahead of the release.
And moments after China's inflation came in hot - but not too hot, with CPI printing below 2% for the 9th consecutive month - in a milestone moment for Asia-Pacific equity markets, the main MSCI Asia index just surpassed its 2007 peak for the first time - making a new record high ten years after the last, and 56 months after US markets first breached their previous peak.
So to all those who held on in the rollercoaster ride of the past decade, congratulations: 'buy and hold' works after all!