Link Securities | According to data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics, retail sales in China grew by 1.3% year-on-year in November (2.9% in October), the lowest rate since the COVID-19 pandemic. The reading was below the 2.9% expected by the FactSet analyst consensus. There was a sharp 19.4% drop in sales of household appliances during the month. Car sales also declined, and sales of essential goods fell slightly. In contrast, sales of communications equipment increased significantly.
Meanwhile, fixed capital investment fell by 2.6% year-on-year in November (down 1.7% in October), a decline greater than the 2.3% expected by the consensus. In addition, investment in manufacturing slowed to 1.9% growth (2.7% in October), with infrastructure contracting by 1.1% (0.1% in October), while investment in real estate fell by 15.9% (14.7% in October).
Industrial production, meanwhile, rose 4.8% year-on-year in October (4.9% in October), slightly below the 5.0% expected by analysts. Notable areas of growth were industrial robotics, integrated circuits and automotive. The sectors with the lowest growth were steel, smartphones, computers and solar cells.
Finally, it should be noted that the unemployment rate remained stable at 5.1%, as expected by analysts.
