Japan’s core consumer prices grew slightly to post their first rise in more than a year in May, largely due to a rebound in energy prices, in a welcome sign for an economy struggling with weakness in prices. Nationwide core consumer prices, which exclude volatile fresh food costs, gained 0.1% in May from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday, matching a median market forecast. It was the first rise since March 2020 and largely reflected a bounce in electricity and gasoline prices from last year’s pandemic-driven plunge, a government official said. The data was released ahead of the central bank’s policy ... (full story)