year-earlier period, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics said. (DJN) China's central bank on Friday kept its benchmark interest rates unchanged as the Chinese economy recovered from the country's Covid reopening quicker than expected. The People's Bank of China kept the one-year loan prime rate at 3.65% and five-year LPR at 4.3%, both unchanged from last month, as was widely expected after the bank kept the medium-term lending facility steady earlier this week. (DJN) Malaysia's consumer prices continued to rise in December, but at a slower pace than in November. The country's consumer-price index rose 3.8% in December from a year earlier, data from the Department of Statistics showed. The result was slightly higher than the median 3.7% increase forecast by eight economists in a Wall Street Journal poll. (DJN) Retail sales in the U.K. fell again in December, adding to evidence of weakening consumer spending at year-end. Retail sales volumes fell 1% in December on month after dropping by a revised 0.5% in November, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected a 0.3% increase for December. (DJN) U.K. consumer confidence unexpectedly took a dip in January after improving at year-end, highlighting persisting woes as high inflation and rising interest rates erode Britons' purchasing power. Research firm GfK said its consumer-confidence barometer declined to minus 45 in January from minus 42 in December, missing economists' expectations of a rise to minus 40. (DJN) WSJ Pro Special Report: The Year Ahead in Private Equity

As 2023 unfolds, private-equity firms enter what some predict will be one of the more challenging periods the industry has seen since the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet the challenges will create investment opportunities for firms with capital to deploy. Read our latest WSJ Pro Special Report here.

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This newsletter is compiled by James Christie in San Francisco.

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James Christie , Jon Hilsenrath , Nell Henderson , Nick Timiraos , Kim Mackrael , Tom Fairless , Megumi Fujikawa , Perry Cleveland-Peck [mailto:perry.cleveland-peck@wsj.com], Michael Maloney , Nihad Ahmed , Paul Kiernan

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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-20-23 0717ET