Reports released by China at 10 p.m. New York time Sunday show China’s economy slowing in July.
Industrial output rose 6.4% year over year. Industrial output grew at an annual 7.6% in June. Economists had projected 7.1% growth in output.
Retail sales, another key figure, gained 10.4% year over year in July. That was a drop from the 11% annual rate in June. Economists had ben looking for 10.8% annual growth.
And, the final number in this triad of important economic data, fixed-asset investment in urban areas rose 8.3% in the first seven months of 2017 from the level in the first seven months of 2016. Economists had forecast an 8.6% growth rate.
Economists and analysts are reading the July report as an early indication that China’s economy is likely to growth at a slower pace in the second half of the year. Not a whole lot slower, however, is the consensus right now. With the 19th Party Congress and its announcement of a new leadership team looming this fall, it is unlikely that the government would let growth slow too much before ordering the People’s Bank of China to step in with a boost to the money supply or some other boost to the economy.
