RIYADH: Consumer confidence in the U.S increased to 113.8 in October, up from 109.8 in September, the US-based Conference Board said. Concerns about high inflation were offset by an optimistic outlook for the labor market. This suggests that economic growth might have recovered early in the fourth quarter. This comes after consumer confidence in the country declined for three months in a row. UK annual pay rises Full-time earnings in Britain rose by 4.3 percent in April compared to the previous year, data published by the Office for National Statistics revealed. Median full-time earnings increased to £611 ($843) in April. After adjusting for inflation, the increase was 1.7 percent. Hong Kong’s trade deficit Hong Kong"s trade deficit expanded to HKD42.4 billion ($5.5 billion) in September up from HKD12.7 billion ($1.6 billion) a year earlier, Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department said. Imports grew by 23.5 percent to reach an all-time high of HKD484.2 billion ($62.3 billion), triggered by a significant increase in imports of electrical machinery and related parts. Exports rose at a lower annual rate of 16.5 percent as it reached HKD441.8 billion ($56.8 billion). This was driven by jumps in the exports of electrical machinery, office machines and automatic data processing machines, and gold and silver products. Brazil’s inflation Monthly inflation in Brazil reached 1.2 percent in early October, Bloomberg reported, citing the country’s statistics agency. This will likely put some pressure on its central bank to raise interest rates there, despite plans for greater public spending in the country. The hike in prices was driven by jumps in transport and housing costs, which increased by 2.06 percent and 1.87 percent respectively. In addition, the country’s annual inflation rate rose to 10.34 percent.