INFLATION

Consumer sentiment dropped to its lowest point in more than three decades in early August, as fears of a stalled recovery gelled with despair over government policies, a survey released on Friday showed.

An anorexic under doctor's orders to put on weight might fret unnecessarily about getting fat one day.

LONDON/NEW YORK - An anorexic under doctor's orders to put on weight might fret unnecessarily about getting fat one day.

For years, low prices on China-sourced goods helped dampen inflation in the United States. Now China's efforts to boost domestic consumer spending, reducing reliance on exports, are leading to higher costs for multinationals that manufacture goods there.

Oil is likely to remain weak in the short term due to the sluggish global economy, while gold reaches new peaks on its increasing safe haven appeal and an expected further easing of U.S. monetary policy, a London-based fund manager said.

Gold is set to widen its premium over platinum after hitting parity for the first time in 2-1/2 years this week, with no end yet in sight to the potent cocktail of fear factors that are benefiting safe havens at the expense of cyclical assets.

Ghana's annual inflation rate fell to its lowest since 1992 in July, potentially paving the way for new cuts in interest rates in the West African state.

World shares regained some ground Wednesday after investors were comforted by the Fed's pledge to keep interest rates near zero for two more years. Despite this, losses on Wall Street ran rampant.

Goldman Sachs said on Wednesday a third round of quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve is likely after the U.S. Federal Reserve promised to keep rates at extraordinarily low levels for at least two more years.

China's exports were surprisingly buoyant in July as shipments to top trade partner Europe jumped by the most in at least a year, allaying concerns that debt problems abroad may hold back the world's No. 2 economy.

The United States could launch a new round of quantitative monetary easing, China's top economic planner said on Wednesday in a statement addressing the country's future inflation risks.

Wall Street economists see odds of around one-in-three the United States will slip back into recession, heightening expectations the Federal Reserve will launch another round of unconventional credit easing.

"We view the FOMC statement as aggressively dovish, even beyond our expectations," said Dan Dorrow of Connecticut-based Faros Trading.

U.S. stocks soared as the Federal Reserve promised low interest rates until 2012 and stated that it expects inflation to remain low.

U.S. stocks surged after the market digested the Federal Open Market Committee statement, which is now judged as dovish.

The global central bank community is uniting to put a halt to the current bout of financial volatility.

The magic words, in Fedspeak, to signal further quantitative easing (QE) is something about the underlying inflation being below what the Fed judges to be appropriate with its dual mandate of maximum employment and price stability.

Now that Uncle Sam has dug itself into a $14 trillion hole, it?s the American taxpayer who should be warning Ben Bernanke and his government cronies about the irrationalities of their exuberant paper printing.

The United States faces one-in-four odds of slipping back into recession, and a weaker economic outlook is raising the likelihood the Federal Reserve will soon do more to boost growth, a Reuters poll shows.

Read Tuesday's full statement from the Fed.

U.S. stocks pared gains after the Federal Reserve released its August Federal Open Markets Committee statement at 2:15 ET.