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South Korea’s monthly inflation rate rose to its highest level in three years in August as price gains accelerate despite a series of interest rate hikes and slowing economic growth.

The country’s consumer price index increased 5.3 percent from the same month last year as costs for food and transportation rose, the government’s Statistics Korea said Thursday. That followed an increase of 4.7 percent in July.

The latest result was the highest since 5.6 percent recorded in August 2008 and marked the first time the index broached the 5 percent level since September of the same year.

South Korea is battling price pressures along with other countries including China, where inflation rose to a 37-month high of 6.5 percent in July.

The Bank of Korea, the country’s central bank, has raised its benchmark interest rate five times since July 2010 in a bid to stem price gains. The BOK last raised its key borrowing cost in June and holds its next monthly policy meeting to set the rate on Sept. 8.

The surge in inflation comes as South Korea’s economy, Asia’s fourth largest, is slowing. Economic growth came in at 0.8 percent in the second quarter, weaker than the 1.3 percent recorded in the first three months of the year.

Inflation has now accelerated for three straight months and has been outside the Bank of Korea’s stated comfort zone for price increases every month this year.

The central bank’s inflation target is 3 percent, but it recognizes a “tolerance range” of plus or minus one percentage point from that level cash advance. The consumer price index, however, has exceeded 4 percent _ the upper end of that range _ for eight months.

Kwon Young-sun, an economist at Nomura International in Hong Kong, said the August increase was driven by a temporary surge in vegetable prices due to heavy rains.

“We expect CPI inflation to slow sharply next month, but to remain above the Bank of Korea’s 4 percent target ceiling,” he wrote in a report.

The BOK in July raised its inflation forecast for 2011 to 4 percent from its previous outlook of 3.9 percent.

The International Monetary Fund last month called for higher interest rates in South Korea to bring down inflation and protect the country’s economic recovery.

So-called core inflation, which strips out volatile agriculture and oil prices, also accelerated in July, increasing 4 percent from the year before, Statistics Korea said. It had risen 3.8 percent in July.

Compared with the previous month, the overall consumer price index rose 0.9 percent in August.

Nomura’s Kwon said that the BOK is unlikely to raise its benchmark borrowing cost until February of next year, given the more benign outlook for inflation and the slowing economy.

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Global stocks fell Wednesday in a downbeat appraisal of a Franco-German summit that failed to persuade investors that a convincing fix to the eurozone’s spiraling debt crisis was imminent.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel called for greater economic and political unity among the 17 nations that share the euro.

But they failed to take the decisive actions the markets had hoped for, including committing to common eurobonds that would spread the risk for the sovereign debt or strengthening a new bailout fund.

The market reaction showed little confidence in the announcements, which came on the heels of weak growth in Germany, Europe’s largest economy.

“There was no talk about boosting the EFSF (European Financial Stability Facility) and not talk about eurobonds, all rather disappointing but not altogether surprising, given the political obstacles against them,” said Michael Hewson of CMC Markets. “The biggest worry remains the lack of economic growth in Europe.”

In Europe, Germany’s DAX was 1 percent lower at 5,931 while the CAC-40 in France rose a slight 0.05 percent to 3,232. Britain’s FTSE 100 of leading British shares was down 0.72 percent at 5,318.

Wall Street was poised for a fairly subdued opening later _ Dow futures were down 0.1 percent at 11,380 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures fell an equivalent rate to 1,192.

Compared to last week, when turmoil gripped financial markets in the aftermath of Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the U.S.’s credit rating and as Europe’s debt crisis threatened Italy and Spain, trading this week has been fairly subdued. Often, trading in the second half of August runs dry up until the U.S. return from the Labor Day weekend in early September.

In the currency markets, the most activity centered on the Swiss franc.

The Swiss franc was back in demand after the Swiss National Bank failed to peg the currency with the euro, as had been widely speculated upon in recent days. Instead, the bank decided to inject more of the Swiss currency into the money markets in its latest attempt to stem the export-sapping appreciation of the currency.

“The market was heavily anticipating something along the lines of a target or a foreign exchange floor, but ultimately the SNB simply expanded their current measures,” said Geoffrey Yu, an analyst at UBS.

By late morning London time, the euro was trading around 0.7 percent lower on the day at 1.1361 Swiss franc, while the dollar was 1.1 percent lower at 0.7873 franc.

Elsewhere, the euro was 0.3 percent firmer at $1.4427 while the dollar fell 0.3 percent to 76.55 yen.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index sank 0.6 percent to close at 9,057.26 as a strengthening yen dragged down the country’s vital export sector.

South Korea’s Kospi, which tumbled last week amid massive foreign selling, rose 0.7 percent to 1,892.67.

Mainland Chinese shares edged lower as investors fretted over possible monetary tightening measures and the debt problems among European countries using the euro common currency. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.3 percent to 2,601.26 while the Shenzhen Composite Index likewise slipped 0.3 percent to 1,163.87.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.4 percent to 20,289.03, buoyed by Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang’s pledge to expand the role of Hong Kong as an offshore trading center for China’s yuan currency.

Oil prices rose further with the benchmark New York rate up $1.04 at $87.69 a barrel.

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Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

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Thousands of extra police officers were stationed on Britain’s streets Friday, as the country faced its first weekend since riots raged through suburbs and town centers, leaving a scarred landscape of broken glass and torched buildings.

Police in London, which saw the worst violence, have charged almost 700 people with violence, disorder and looting, and the city’s mayor said Londoners wanted to see tough sentences handed out to the guilty. Hundreds of stores were looted, buildings were set ablaze and five people died amid the mayhem that broke out Saturday in London and spread over four nights across England.

Police, meanwhile, hit back against claims they were too soft in their initial response to the disorder.

Prime Minister David Cameron said officers had been overwhelmed at first, outmaneuvered by mobile gangs of rioters. He said “far too few police were deployed onto the streets. And the tactics they were using weren’t working.”

That changed Tuesday, when 16,000 officers were out on London’s streets _ almost three times the number of the night before. Cameron said the extra officers will remain on patrol through the weekend.

Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, acknowledged that police had faced “an unprecedented situation, unique circumstances” _ but said it was police themselves, rather than “political interference,” that got the situation under control.

“The more robust policing tactics you saw were not a function of political interference,” he told the BBC. “They were a function of the numbers being available to allow the chief constables to change their tactics.”

Cameron vowed “swift justice” for perpetrators, and courts were struggling to cope with a flood of defendants.

Across the country, more than 1,700 people have been arrested. Courts in London, Birmingham and Manchester have stayed open around the clock since Wednesday to deal with hundreds of alleged offenders.

The alleged looters and vandals included an 11-year-old boy, a teenage ballerina, a university English student from a prosperous commuter town, and Natasha Reid, a 24-year-old university graduate who admitted stealing a TV from a looted electronics store. Her lawyer said she had turned herself in because she could not sleep for guilt. A judge told her she would probably go to jail when she is sentenced later.

Another was Chelsea Ives, an 18-year-old chosen as a volunteer ambassador for next year’s Olympic Games. She is accused of burglary, violent disorder and throwing bricks at a police car during riots in north London on Sunday.

Newspapers reported that Ives was charged after her parents saw her rioting on TV and turned her in. She was ordered detained until a court appearance on Wednesday.

Mayor Boris Johnson said it was fitting that “significant sentences” were being handed down.

“That is, frankly, what Londoners want to see,” he said.

Although the rioters came from all Britain’s ethnic communities, the violence stirred fears of heightened racial tensions _ especially in Birmingham, where three South Asian men were killed Tuesday when they were hit by a car, reportedly driven by black youths.

Hours later Tariq Jahan, whose 21-year-old son Haroon was killed, urged calm guaranteed approval cash advance loans. So far, he has been heeded.

“This is not a race issue,” he said. “The family has received messages of sympathy and support from all parts of the community _ all races, all faiths and backgrounds.”

Home Secretary Theresa May said she was banning a march planned for Saturday by the far-right English Defense League in the central England town of Telford amid fears of violence.

The violence was triggered by fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four who was gunned down in north London’s Tottenham area on Aug. 4 under disputed circumstances. A protest demanding justice on Saturday devolved into a riot, which spread to other parts of London and beyond.

Britain’s police watchdog apologized Friday for “inadvertently” giving the impression immediately after the shooting that Duggan had fired at officers. The Independent Police Complaints Commission said, “We may have verbally led journalists to believe that shots were exchanged.”

A gun was found in the car Duggan was traveling in, but ballistic tests showed that a bullet found lodged in an officer’s radio was police issue.

Britain’s Parliament was called back from its summer break for an emergency debate on the riots Thursday, with Cameron promising authorities would get strong powers to stop street mayhem from erupting again.

He said authorities were considering new powers, including allowing police to order thugs to remove masks or hoods, evicting troublemakers from subsidized housing and temporarily disabling cell phone instant messaging services.

He told lawmakers that he would look to cities like Boston for inspiration, and mentioned former Los Angeles, New York and Boston Police Chief William Bratton as a person who could help offer advice.

Bratton said he received a phone call Friday from Cameron asking him whether he would consider becoming a consultant for British police. He said he thanked Cameron for the opportunity and will continue speaking with British officials to formalize an agreement.

“This is a prime minister who has a clear idea of what he wants to do,” Bratton told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “He sees this crisis as a way to bring change. The police force there can be a catalyst for that. I’m very optimistic.”

Cameron also said the government, police and intelligence services were looking at whether there should be limits on the use of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook or services like BlackBerry Messenger to spread disorder.

BlackBerry’s simple and largely cost free messaging service was used by rioters to coordinate their activities, Cameron’s office said. An 18-year-old woman was charged Friday with using BlackBerry messaging to encourage others to take part in violence. Several others have been charged with inciting violence on Facebook and Twitter.

The government said it planned to hold talks with police chiefs, Twitter, Facebook and Blackberry manufacturer Research In Motion Ltd.

But any move to disable the services temporarily is likely to be strongly opposed by civil libertarians.

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The chief of Malaysia’s national oil company Petronas said Monday that global oil prices are too high and should fall back to between $75 and $80 a barrel.

While demand has surged, Petronas Chief Executive Shamsul Azhar Abbas said there was no real evidence of an oil shortage and that current prices above $100 a barrel appeared largely linked to speculation in crude markets.

“Given the current state of market fundamentals and the cost environment, I believe prices should remain within the range of $75 to $80 per barrel,” Shamsul told a two-day Asian oil and gas conference.

Oil prices soared from about $70 a barrel last summer to as high as $115 this spring, and currently are hovering above $100. They were driven up by turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, rising demand in developing countries and a weakening U.S. dollar.

The 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which accounts for about 40 percent of the global crude supply, will discuss Wednesday whether to boost production to help lower prices no fax payday advance.

Shamsul said a major long-term challenge would be to meet growing oil demand amid dwindling resources, and that companies would be relying on smaller fields and offshore fields to sustain production.

Meanwhile, Asia’s oil demand has been projected to increase by two-thirds within the next 20 years. At this rate, Asia will have consumed more than 250 billion barrels of oil by then _ more than six times its current reserves of about 40 billion barrels, he said.

“There is truly no mistaking that Asia’s dependence on energy imports and investments into other resource-rice regions will grow,” he said.

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American employers added more jobs than forecast in April and previous monthly gains this year were revised up, easing concern the economy is cooling.

Payrolls expanded by 244,000 last month, the biggest gain since May 2010, after a revised 221,000 increase the prior month, the Labor Department said yesterday in Washington. The jobless rate climbed to 9 percent, the first increase since November, a separate survey of households showed. Employment was forecast to grow by 185,000 last month, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Stocks and the dollar rallied as the report indicated consumers in the world’s largest economy are weathering the highest gasoline prices in almost three years. The figures bolster Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s forecast for a labor market that is “improving gradually.”

“The recovery looks to be certainly more self- sustaining,” said Omair Sharif, a U.S. economist at RBS Securities Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut, who forecast a 240,000 gain in payrolls. “Businesses have more confidence in the sustainability of the recovery.”

March payrolls were revised up from a previously reported gain of 216,000, and February employment increased 235,000, up from a prior estimate of 194,000.

April payroll projections in the Bloomberg survey of 86 economists ranged from gains of 118,000 to 325,000, while the jobless rate was forecast to hold at 8.8 percent.

Stocks, Dollar

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.4 percent to 1,340.2 at the 4 p.m. close in New York. IntercontinentalExchange Inc.’s Dollar Index, used to track the dollar against the currencies of trading partners including the euro and yen, rose 0.8 percent to 74.785.

The economy has generated 760,000 private jobs in the past three months, the employment report showed. Overall, companies added 2.1 million jobs since February 2010, after the loss of 8.8 million as a result of the 18-month recession that ended in June 2009.

Private hiring, which excludes government agencies, rose by 268,000 in April, more than the 200,000 median forecast in the Bloomberg survey and the most since February 2006.

Among companies adding workers is Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC) The fourth-biggest U.S. railroad is expanding payrolls as it benefits from higher shipping volumes. First-quarter profit excluding some items was $1 a share, topping the 90-cent average estimate from 27 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

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U.K. consumer confidence slumped to its weakest level since the depth of the recession in February 2009 as the government’s budget cuts began in earnest, a report by GfK NOP Ltd. showed.

The index of sentiment fell to minus 31 in April from minus 28 in March, the London-based research group said in an e-mailed statement today. The reading is down from minus 16 a year earlier and each of the five measures that make up the gauge declined on the month.

Household finances are under pressure from inflation that’s double the Bank of England’s 2 percent target and the tightest fiscal squeeze since World War II. The economy’s 0.5 percent expansion in the first quarter was just enough to recover the production lost during in the previous three months, when freezing weather disrupted business across the country.

“Coming after six months of stagnant economic growth, this is a significant drop, one that is bad news for the government and bad news for the economy” GfK Social Research Managing Director Nick Moon said in the statement. “These figures must make the possibility of a double-dip recession increasingly real.”

A measure of consumers’ assessment of their personal financial situation over the last 12 months dropped 4 points to minus 23, and the index on the next 12 months declined the same amount to minus 14. A gauge of their willingness to make major purchases fell 2 points to minus 31.

GfK’s index covering consumers’ views on the general economic situation over the past 12 months dropped 3 points to minus 57, while a measure of sentiment on the general economic situation in the coming 12 months fell 1 point to minus 30.

Interest-Rate Bets

The report may reinforce investor expectations that the Bank of England will maintain its benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.5 percent to support the economy.

The rate will rise by 25 basis points by November, according to forward contracts on the sterling overnight interbank average, or Sonia, compiled by Tullett Prebon Ltd. On March 30, Sonia contracts showed investors expected a rate increase in July.

Associated British Foods Plc (ABF), the owner of Primark clothes stores, reduced its full-year earnings forecast yesterday as it anticipated weak consumer confidence and rising cotton prices will cut profitability at its clothing unit.

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France’s embassy in Ivory Coast says the ambassador’s residence was hit by two mortars and a rocket fired from positions held by forces supporting the country’s strongman, who refuses to emerge from a bunker at his residence next door to the embassy.

A statement says artillery hit the French residence Friday afternoon and that it is the second such attack in 48 hours. The statement does not say if there were any injuries or casualties.

The statement also noted that a U.N. Security Council resolution would permit them to destroy the weapons used to target the embassy.

Forces supporting the democratically elected president have tried to force strongman Laurent Gbagbo from his bunker but he refuses to emerge or cede power.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) _ France’s embassy in Ivory Coast says the ambassador’s residence was hit by two mortars and a rocket fired from positions held by forces supporting the country’s strongman, who refuses to emerge from a bunker at his residence next door to the embassy no fax cash advances.

A statement says artillery hit the French residence Friday afternoon and that it is the second such attack in 48 hours. The statement does not say if there were any injuries or casualties.

The statement also reiterated a U.N. Security Council resolution that would permit them to destroy the weapons used to target the embassy.

Forces supporting the democratically elected leader have tried to force strongman Laurent Gbagbo from his bunker but he refuses to emerge or cede power.

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A nearly completed new power line could restore cooling systems in Japan’s tsunami-crippled nuclear power plant, its operator said Thursday, raising some hope of easing the crisis that has threatened a meltdown and already spawned dangerous radiation surges.

The conditions at the plant appeared to worsen, with white smoke pouring from the complex and a surge in radiation levels forcing workers to retreat for hours Wednesday from their struggle to cool the overheating reactors.

As international concern mounted, the chief of the U.N. nuclear agency said he would go to Japan to assess what he called a “serious” situation and urged Tokyo to provide better information to his organization.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Naoki Tsunoda said the new power line to the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant is almost finished and that officials plan to try it “as soon as possible,” but he could not say exactly when.

The new line would revive electric-powered pumps, allowing the company to maintain a steady water supply to troubled reactors and spent fuel storage ponds, keeping them cool. The company is also trying to repair its existing disabled power line.

Wednesday’s pullback by workers who have been pumping seawater into the reactors cost valuable time in the fight to prevent a nuclear meltdown, a nightmare scenario following Friday’s horrific earthquake and tsunami. The disasters pulverized Japan’s northeastern coast and are feared to have killed more than 10,000 people.

The tsunami destroyed the complex’s backup power system and left operators unable to properly cool nuclear fuel. The 180 emergency workers have been working in shifts to manually pump seawater into the reactors.

Japan’s emperor, in an unprecedented made-for-TV speech, called on the country to work together.

“It is important that each of us shares the difficult days that lie ahead,” said Akihito, 77. “I pray that we will all take care of each other and overcome this tragedy.”

He also expressed his worries over the nuclear crisis, saying: “With the help of those involved I hope things will not get worse.”

But officials are also taking increasing criticism for poor communication about efforts at the complex. There has been growing unease at the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35 board member nations, who have complained that information coming from Japan on the rapidly evolving nuclear disaster is too slow and vague.

IAEA head Yukiya Amano spoke of a “very serious” situation and said he would leave for Tokyo within a day.

He said it was “difficult to say” if events were out of control, but added, “I will certainly have contact with those people who are working there who tackled the accident, and I will be able to have firsthand information.”

The nuclear crisis has partly overshadowed the human tragedy caused by Friday’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest recorded in history.

Millions of Japanese have been with little food and water in heavy snow and rain since Friday. In some towns, long lines of cars waited outside the few open gas stations, with others lined up at rice-vending machines.

National broadcaster NHK showed mammoth military helicopters lifting off Friday afternoon to survey radiation levels above the nuclear complex, preparing to dump water onto the most troubled reactors in an effort to cool them down.

The defense ministry later said those flights were a drill _ then later said it had decided against making an airborne drop because of the high radiation levels.

“The anxiety and anger being felt by people in Fukushima have reached a boiling point,” the governor of Fukushima prefecture, Yuhei Sato, fumed in an interview with NHK. He criticized preparations for an evacuation if conditions worsen, and said centers do not have enough hot meals and basic necessities.

More than 4,300 people are officially listed as dead, but officials believe the toll will climb to well over 10,000. Police say more than 452,000 people are staying in temporary shelters such as school gymnasiums payday loan lenders.

Wednesday’s radiation spike was believed to have come from the complex’s Unit 3. But officials also admitted that they were far from sure what was going on at the four most troubled reactors, including Unit 3, in part because high radiation levels made it difficult to get very close.

While white smoke was seen rising Wednesday above Unit 3, officials could not ascertain the source. They said it could be spewing from the reactor’s spent fuel pool _ cooling tanks for used nuclear rods _ or may have been from damage to the reactor’s containment vessel, the protective shell of thick concrete.

Masahisa Otsuki, an official with Tokyo Electric Power Co., which owns the complex, said officials are most concerned about the spent fuel pools, which are not encased in protective shells.

“We haven’t been able to get any of the latest data at any spent fuel pools. We don’t have the latest water levels, temperatures, none of the latest information for any of the four reactors,” he said.

Late Wednesday, government officials said they’d asked special police units to bring in water cannons _ normally used to quell rioters _ to spray water onto the spent fuel storage pool for the complex’s Unit 4.

The cannons are thought to be strong enough to allow emergency workers to remain a safe distance from the complex while still able to get water into the pool, said Minoru Ogoda of the Japanese nuclear safety agency.

In the city of Fukushima, meanwhile, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) inland from the nuclear complex, hundreds of harried government workers, police officers and others struggled to stay on top of the situation in a makeshift command center.

An entire floor of one of the prefecture’s office buildings had been taken over by people tracking evacuations, power needs, death tolls and food supplies.

Elevated levels of radiation were detected well outside the 20-mile (30-kilometer) emergency area around the plants. In Ibaraki prefecture, just south of Fukushima, officials said radiation levels were about 300 times normal levels by late morning. It would take three years of constant exposure to these higher levels to raise a person’s risk of cancer.

A little radiation was also detected in Tokyo, triggering panic buying of food and water.

Given the reported radiation levels, John Price, an Australian-based nuclear safety expert, said he saw few health risks for the general public so far. But he said he was surprised by how little information the Japanese were sharing.

“We don’t know even the fundamentals of what’s happening, what’s wrong, what isn’t working. We’re all guessing,” he said. “I would have thought they would put on a panel of experts every two hours.”

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the government expects to ask the U.S. military for help, though he did not elaborate. He said the government is still considering whether to accept offers of help from other countries.

There are six reactors at the plant. Units 1, 2 and 3, which were operating last week, shut down automatically when the quake hit. Since then, all three have been rocked by explosions. Compounding the problems, on Tuesday a fire broke out in Unit 4’s fuel storage pond, an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool, causing radioactivity to be released into the atmosphere.

Units 4, 5 and 6 were shut at the time of the quake, but even offline reactors have nuclear fuel _ either inside the reactors or in storage ponds _ that need to be kept cool.

Meanwhile, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency estimated that 70 percent of the rods have been damaged at the No. 1 reactor.

Japan’s national news agency, Kyodo, said that 33 percent of the fuel rods at the No. 2 reactor were damaged and that the cores of both reactors were believed to have partially melted.

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Businesses in the U.S. unexpectedly grew in February at the fastest pace in two decades, indicating manufacturing remains at the forefront of the recovery.

The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. said today its business barometer rose to 71.2 this month, the highest level since July 1988, from 68.8 in January. Figures greater than 50 signal expansion. The gauge, which was projected to fall, exceeded every estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Manufacturers like Deere & Co. are raising profit forecasts as business investment in new equipment accelerates and exports climb as the global economy recovers. A slowdown in purchases by U.S. households indicates consumers are taking a breather this quarter, a sign the expansion will become more dependent on gains in factory production.

The median estimates of 52 economists surveyed for the Chicago purchasers’ index projected a drop to 67 payday loans for bad credit.5. Forecasts ranged from 60 to 70.9.

Chicago Breakdown

The Chicago group’s production gauge rose to 78.2 from January’s reading of 73.7. The gauge of new orders climbed to 75.9 from 75.7. The employment measure fell to 59.8 from 64.1 the prior month.

Factories boosted payrolls by 49,000 workers in January, the most since August 1998, according to Labor Department data.

The Fed Bank of New York on Feb. 15 said manufacturing expanded in that region this month, and the Philadelphia Fed said two days later that factories grew at the fastest rate in seven years.

Economists watch the Chicago index and other regional manufacturing reports for an early reading on the national outlook. The Chicago group says its membership includes both manufacturers and service providers, making the gauge a measure of overall growth. Its members have operations across the U.S. and abroad.

The ISM’s monthly national factory index, due tomorrow, climbed 61 in February from 60.8 the prior month when factories expanded the most since 2004, according to the median projection in a Bloomberg News survey. A reading above 50 signals expansion.

More Exports

Overseas demand for American goods is helping support manufacturers. Exports rose 1.8 percent in December to the highest level since July 2008, according to Commerce Department data released Feb. 11. For all of last year, exports increased 17 percent, the biggest one-year gain since 1988.

Deere, the world’s largest farm-equipment maker, this month raised its full-year profit forecast and reported first-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates as higher crop prices boosted North American sales of tractors and combines.

Net income will be about $2.5 billion in the year ending Oct. 31, more than the $2.1 billion forecast in November, the Moline, Illinois-based company said Feb. 16 in a statement. Equipment sales will rise 18 to 20 percent in fiscal 2011, equivalent to $27.8 billion to $28.3 billion.

Agricultural and turf equipment sales will rise 16 percent in fiscal 2011 as tight stocks of a variety of crops boost prices, Deere said. Farm-machinery sales in the U.S. and Canada are forecast to gain about 5 percent while Europe will increase 10 percent and South America will be comparable to 2010.

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