Suddenly China slows

I’ve been waiting for it for while and now we get our first clear evidence of slowing growth arising from policy tightening. Chinese data for July has just missed across the board with Industrial production in at 6.4% vs 7.1% expected, fixed asset investment at 8.3% versus 8.6% expected and retail sales at 10.4% versus 11% expected:

Some of this is clearly numberwang with give back after last month’s surge but there is stronger evidence of an ongoing trend slowing in construction. Floor area sales continue to decelerate year to date:

Total floor space under construction fell back to 3.2% year to date and ought to backtrack further over subsequent months:

The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers

$1 for your first month, then:

$24.99 / month

$249 / year

Cancel at any time through our billing provider, Stripe

Share

About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.