Asian shares rose Thursday, with solid economic data from China and Australia lifting sentiment as investors awaited a possible bailout for Greece.

A spike in China’s inflation eased in January, reducing pressure for Beijing to hike interest rates and cool surging prices as it tries to keep a recovery in world’s third-largest economy on track.

The number of U.S. households facing foreclosure in January increased 15 percent from the same month last year, and a surge in cash-strapped homeowners who’ve fallen behind on mortgages could be on the way.

Asian shares rose Thursday, with solid economic data from China and Australia lifting sentiment as investors awaited a possible bailout for Greece.

Australia’s jobless rate unexpectedly fell to 5.3 percent in January, according to figures that the government said vindicated its stimulus spending.

Lawyers for the eight Great Lakes states and the Obama administration discussed a legal dispute Wednesday over preventing an Asian carp infestation but no deal was reached, Michigan’s attorney general said.

House budget writers have rejected Gov. Sonny Perdue’s proposal to take money from the state lottery reserves to pay for scholarships and grants typically funded with taxpayer dollars.

Mining officials gathered at the Colorado Mining Association’s three-day conference this week say the “new energy economy,” usually associated with renewable energy, starts with their industry.

Asian stocks rose for the third day in a row on Thursday, powered by strong economic data from Australia and China, while the euro steadied ahead of a key summit that could lay out a rescue plan for debt-stricken Greece.

Less than a month after calling bank executives’ pay “obscene,” President Barack Obama is declining to criticize bonuses received by two top Wall Street chief executives, saying he doesn’t “begrudge people success or wealth.”