b>JAPANS CONTINUING DEFLATION

Japans core consumer price index fell for the 35th consecutive month in August, down 0.9 per cent year-on-year. Unemployment in August was just below post-war highs at 5.4 per cent. The number of jobless increased by 250,000 year-on-year to 3.6m. To cap this extremely depressing batch of economic data household spending fell 2 per cent in August month-on-month. This