China’s economy held ground last month following new measures to cool property markets in almost two dozen big cities.
- Industrial production rose 6.1 percent from a year earlier in October, compared with median estimate of 6.2 percent in a Bloomberg survey and 6.1 percent in September
- Retail sales growth slowed to 10 percent, missing estimates for 10.7 percent
- Fixed-asset investment rose 8.3 percent in first ten months of the year
Any sign the world’s second-largest economy is losing steam may add to uncertainty in the global economy, which already faces the prospect that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will impose punitive tariffs on Chinese imports. But for now, it’s all about domestic drivers, with efforts to rein in property prices tapping the brakes on China’s consumer.
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Even amid curbs in major cities, property development investment rose 6.6 percent from a year earlier in the first ten months, compared to 5.8 percent in the first nine. While cooling prices and fewer transactions will hurt services, construction fueled by investment remains key to driving output. Growth of private investment stabilized to 2.9 percent in the first 10 months of 2016 from a year earlier.