MNI BRIEF: China July Macro Data Misses Forecasts

China's economy struggled in the resumption of normality in July, as sporadic outbreaks of Covid-19 and unfavorable hot and rainy weather weighed, helping economic indicators fall short of expectations, data by the National Bureau of Statistics released Monday showed.

Industrial production rose 3.8% y/y in July, decelerating from June's 3.9%, missing the forecast 4.5%. Retail sales eased moderately to 2.7% y/y in July from June's 3.1%, underperforming the forecast 5.0% gain. The surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.4% in July, down 0.1 percentage point from June. Youth unemployment set a new high of 19.9%.

Fixed-asset investment eased to 5.7% y/y in the first seven months, from the 6.1% gain in H1, also lower than the 6.2% forecast. Property investment fell 6.4% y/y to hit the lowest level since March 2020, sliding further from the previous 5.4% fall. Infrastructure investment accelerated to 7.4% y/y from the previous 7.1% growth, while manufacturing investment decelerated to 9.9% from the previous 10.4% growth.