Australia slipped into deflation in the three months through June, reflecting a combination of cheap oil and government intervention to pause some service charges in order to nurse households through the Covid-19 lockdown. The consumer price index fell 1.9% from the first quarter, compared with economists estimates of a 2% drop, the biggest decline in 72 years, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed Wednesday. Annual CPI fell 0.3%. The trimmed-mean gauge, a key core measure, declined a quarterly 0.1% for an annual increase of 1.2%, compared with forecast gains of 0.1% and 1.4%, respectively. “Since ... (full story)