Tokyo - Japan's industrial production fell for the first time in two months as the auto industry had weak output, the government said Wednesday.

Washington - Consumer confidence inched higher in the United States in July, recovering slightly from a 16-year-low a month earlier, according to a private survey Tuesday.

The New York-based Conference Board said its index of consumer's expectations climbed to 51.9 from 51 in June, as the US economy struggles to come out of a sharp slowdown stretching back to the last quarter of 2007.

New Delhi, July 29 : Reacting to the increase in the repo rate and cash reserve ratio, CII stated that these are expected policy responses to inflation, though it may have been possible to await the lagged effects of the last round of monetary actions in June 2008 before taking these further steps.

While there could be a concern on the impact of continuing monetary tightening on investment and growth, the RBI has made it clear that at the present juncture controlling inflation is its priority, CII said in a release issued today.

Tokyo - Japan's unemployment rate stood at 4.1 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in June, up 0.1 point from the previous month, the government said Tuesday.

Some 2.65 million people were jobless in the reporting month, up 240,000 from a year before, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a preliminary report.

There were 91 jobs available for every 100 job seekers in June.

Nuremberg, Germany - Fears of a looming recession have further worried Germans, with the monthly GfK index of consumer sentiment dipping Monday to its lowest level since June 2003.

Nuremberg-based GfK, which surveys panels of consumers, forecast an August consumer climate at 2.1 on its own index scale, a marked fall from the July level of 3.6, as households took stock of gloomy financial news and rising fuel prices.

Many householders who were cheered by pay hikes earlier in the year reported fresh worries that inflation would claw back their gains. This drove GfK's separate index of income expectations down to minus 20, the lowest level since August 2004.

But a further index, reflecting interest in buying things, was only slightly down.

Hong Kong - Launching a minimum wage or increasing regulatory policies could undermine Hong Kong's economic growth, the head of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce told a newspaper in a report published Monday.

But Hong Kong is unlikely to face an economic downturn on the same scale as that seen during the Asian financial crisis 10 years ago, the Standard newspaper said, quoting Andrew Brandler.

"The government has to be careful when formulating policies," Brandler said. "Increasing regulations may bring unforeseen and undesired consequences as they may increase costs, especially under such a fragile economy as we have now."