News Summary

According to the sales data announced by the US Census Bureau today, the April month’s combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, stood at $1,100.9 billion. The April sales figure is higher 0.6% and 13.1% from March 2010 and April 2009, respectively. Today, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced that China’s consumer price index (CPI) jumped 3.1% year-on-year in May. The key indicator of inflation surged more than 2.8% growth in April and also left behind the 3% annual inflation limit targeted by the central government. Producer prices climbed 7.1% year-on-year, leaving behind the 6.8% rise in April. However, analysts are still of the view that many factors such as falling food and commodity prices will join and result in reduced inflation later in the year. China's CPI grew 2.5% year-on-year in the first five months. France-based food processing company Danone North America Inc DANOY and nutrition-medicine products developer and distributor Medical Nutrition USA Inc MDNU have entered in to a definitive merger agreement. Under the agreement, Danone will acquire MDNU’s outstanding shares for $4.00 per share in cash or approximately $62.3 million . By 9:52 am, shares of MDNU rallied 41.91% to $3.94. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.