Annual inflation rate in Russia hit 8.39 percent in November, virtually unchanged from the previous month’s 8.4 percent, data from the country’s Federal State Statistics Service showed. The hike in prices was partly driven by higher costs of foodstuffs, which went up by 10.6 percent. Prices of non-food products also rose by 8.6 percent. Services experienced a smaller spike, increasing by 5 percent. In monthly terms, the inflation rate decelerated slightly to 0.82 percent in November from 0.96 percent in the previous month, according to official data. Moreover, the country’s private sector experienced a slight upturn in December, as its Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 50.2, up from 48.4 in the previous month, IHS Markit said. Output expansion originated from the manufacturing sector. The rate of cost inflation also spiked as manufacturers and service providers faced higher input prices. “Headwinds facing Russian private sector firms will be significant going into 2022, as high inflation, growing COVID-19 cases and weak demand threaten the near-term outlook,” Siân Jones, senior economist at IHS Markit, said. She added: “At the composite level, business confidence sank to the lowest since October 2020.” UK house prices UK house prices rose by 1 percent month-on-month in December and 10.4 percent year-on-year, reaching the largest rise for a calendar year since 2006. The average property price reached a record high of £254,822 ($343,296.20). Meanwhile, the recovery of the housing market in Britain was supported by the tax exemption for buyers and the continued demand for real estate. South Korea’s industrial production South Korea"s industrial production jumped 5.1 percent in November on a monthly basis, while car output rose by 11.3 percent. Output also rose 5.9 percent year-on-year, topping the 3.2 percent growth forecast in a Reuters poll. US trade deficit A 10 percent spike in purchases of industrial supplies prompted the US trade deficit to reach a record high of $97.8 billion in November, widening by 17.5 percent from a month ago, seasonally-adjusted preliminary estimates showed. Imports, as a whole, were 4.7 percent higher in November to hit $252.4 billion. Procurements of foreign automotive vehicles and food were up by 4.5 percent and 3.4 percent respectively, data from the US Census Bureau revealed. Despite a 4.3 percent rise in food shipments from the US, overall exports dropped by 2.1 percent from a month earlier to stand at $154.7 billion. Both sales of industrial supplies and automotive vehicles went down by 2.3 percent as well.