On May 28, 2024, customers shopped at a new Costco store in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.
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China’s retail sales and industrial production for September were better than expected on Friday.
Retail sales grew 3.2% The Office for National Statistics said that compared with a year ago, it was better than the 2.5% growth forecast by analysts in an LSEG poll. Sales grew faster than last month’s 2.1% increase.
at the same time, Industrial production grew 5.4% September’s growth exceeded analysts’ expectations of 4.5% compared with the same period last year.
From January to September, fixed asset investment increased by 3.4% annually.
China also reported The urban unemployment rate is 5.1% In September, the quarterly decrease was 0.2 percentage points.
Despite some encouraging signs, “it’s hard to say China is out of the woods,” said Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis. He noted that retail sales data so far this year showed “consumer caution.”
From January to September, total retail sales of consumer goods grew by 3.35%, which was basically the same as the growth rate of 3.36% from January to August.
The data follows a series of recent announcements by authorities to stimulate consumption and support the sluggish property sector.
On Friday, China also reported slightly better-than-expected gross domestic product data.
Investors have long awaited stimulus as growth slows in the world’s second-largest economy and China struggles to recover from Covid-19 lockdowns.
Markets have been volatile as investors assess the announcement and seek further details on implementation.
“Whether the interest rate cuts and fiscal policy are strong enough will be the key to a rebound in the economy and confidence,” Wu said.
—CNBC’s Anniek Bao contributed to this report.
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