Consumer prices in Japan were unchanged from a year earlier in July, defying expectations for a fall. The core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile prices of fresh food but includes prices of oil products, was flat in July from the year-ago period, government data showed on Friday, compared with Reuters' forecast for a drop of 0.2 percent and down from a 0.1 percent rise in June. In other data, household spending fell 0.2 percent from the year before, versus expectations for a 1.3 percent climb and after declining 2.0 percent in the previous month. Earlier this week, Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor ... (full story)