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China pork prices to hog global indicator limelight
The price of pork in China could soon rival U.S. payrolls as the world's most watched economic indicator. International investors are increasingly focused on domestic demand in the world's second-largest economy as their key measure of global economic health. And there are few better ways to gauge that demand than by tracking staple food prices that directly hit discretionary consumer spending -- a sector of economic activity that typically generates 40 percent of China's annual GDP growth. Lower or even just slower food price rises are a gift to consumers, says Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency ... (full story)