MNI BRIEF: China's Oct Retail Sales Fall As Key Data Misses

China's consumption unexpectedly fell in October amid renewed Covid-19 outbreaks, with industrial production hurt by pandemic control measures, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday showed.

Retail sales fell 0.5% in October to hit a five-month low, reversing the 2.5% growth seen in September and missing the median forecast for a 0.7% increase. Industrial production rose 5% y/y in October from September's 6.3%, missing the consensus forecast for a 5.2% rise. The surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.5% in October, steady on the previous month.

Fixed-asset investment edged down slightly to 5.8% y/y in the first ten months, compared to the 5.9% gain in the Jan-Sep period. This underperformed the median forecast for a 5.9% rise. Property investment fell 8.8% y/y to hit the lowest level since February 2020, sliding further from the previous 8.0% fall. Infrastructure investment accelerated by 0.1 pp to 8.7%, while manufacturing investment decelerated by 0.4 pp to 9.7%. (See MNI INTERVIEW: China's Post-Covid Rebound Won't Last - Pettis)

Chinese financial markets were largely unmoved by the data, with the offshore yuan initially rising to 7.0600 after the data before pulling back to 7.0470. (See CHINA DATA : Activity Data Disappoints, Limited Follow Through For Domestic Asset Sentiment)