• China’s consumer prices fell last month at the fastest pace since the global financial crisis, piling pressure on the government to support a stumbling economic rebound that’s roiling markets.
• The consumer price index dropped 0.8% in January from a year ago, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday, the weakest since September 2009. The drop was worse than economists’ expectations for a 0.5% decline.
• The producer price index fell 2.5%, compared with projections for a 2.6% decrease. Factory-gate costs have been stuck in deflation for 16 straight months.