MNI BRIEF: China October Retail Sales Jump To Five-Month High
China's consumption jumped more than expected to a five-month high in October amid a holiday boom, despite the ailing real-estate sector weighing on investment, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed.
Retail sales increased by 7.6% y/y, outperforming expectations for 7.0% and accelerating from the previous 5.5%. Industrial production rose 4.6% y/y in October, up from September's 4.5% and beating the 4.5% forecast.
Fixed-asset investment over the first ten months registered a 2.9% y/y increase, the lowest since December 2020 (2.9%), slower than the 3.1% growth in Jan-Sep and lower than the 3.1% consensus. Property investment fell further by 9.3% y/y following the prior month's 9.1% decrease. Both infrastructure investment and manufacturing investment grew by 5.9% and 6.2%, compared to the previous 6.2%.