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Lifted in toto from Reuters, June 16:
China's industrial output rose 4.5% in May from a year earlier, picking up from 4.1% growth recorded in April, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Tuesday.
The reading beat expectations of a 4.3% increase in a Reuters poll.Retail sales, a key gauge of consumption, shrank 0.6% last month, reversing April's 0.2% rise and below the estimated 0%. It marked the first monthly fall since December 2022.
Fixed-asset investment fell 4.1% in the first five months of 2026, following a 1.6% contraction in the January-April period. Economists had expected a 2% fall.
Singapore's Business Times leads with the retail sales angle:
China’s retail sales fall in May amid weak domestic demand, first decline in over 3 years
The data shows two-speed economy with stellar exports but worsening domestic demand
China’s economy showed increasing unevenness in May, with retail sales falling for the first time in over three years while industrial output picked up pace.
Industrial output rose 4.5 per cent in May from a year earlier, picking up from the 4.1 per cent growth recorded in April, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Tuesday (Jun 16). The reading beat expectations of a 4.3 per cent increase in a Reuters poll.
A surge in global AI investment has helped the world’s biggest manufacturer offset the export hit many had expected from the Middle East turmoil, but a 19.4 per cent export gain has yet to filter through to domestic consumption....
...That fragility was evident in the auto sector. A downturn in domestic car sales extended into an eighth consecutive month in May, underscoring softening demand in the world’s largest auto market, where pressure is likely to persist through the rest of the year....
....MUCH MORE
