Coinspeaker
China’s Economic Data Missed Broad Expectations amid Wobbled Recovery
China’s economic recovery has been faced with a lot of strain in its attempt to return back to winning ways as marked by growth, however, recent data points that the economy has continued to miss broad expectations. As reported by CNBC, economic data from Reuters proved that the COVID-19 restrictions that were in place for the better part of last year had more impact than previously envisaged.
Per the data, the month of April saw the Industrial Production sector grow at a rate of 5.6% year on year, up 3.9% in March. This figure pales when compared to the 10.9% expected according to a Reuters estimate. Retail sales in China went up by 18.4% as against the 21% that was projected by analysts.
China’s economic recovery attempt received positive momentum toward the end of the third quarter as the government eased the crackdown on high-growth tech companies in the country. While the general inflationary incidence around the world has also impacted the strained business environment for startups and companies in the country.
The economic data also showed that Fixed assets went up by 4.7% even though the general expectation was 5.5%.
“China is in the stage of recovering, compared to last year, the numbers are positive as we just saw, but is the recovery good enough for the market, is the recovery good enough to meet investors’ expectations – that’s the big question here,” BofA Securities China equity strategist Winnie Wu told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia”.
Wu also added that the data released proved not solid enough to beat investors’ expectations. To him, the demand in the country has slowed and the general recovery of confidence in the economy as well as of jobs will take a while to be achieved.
China’s Economic Data on Stocks
China’s economic outlook also affected the stocks of some of the top companies in the country. Notably, these stocks have clawed back most of the gains they have accrued since the start of the year with the Shenzhen Component SZSE Component Index (SHE: 399001) down by 0.71% at the time of writing to 11,099.26.
The Shanghai Composite SSE Composite Index (SHA: 000001) is also down by 0.60% which confirms the encompassing losses that are being experienced in the economy. According to Goldman Sachs economist Hui Shan, the sentiments in the market have remained consistently pale as gleaned from the firm’s client conversation.
In order to reboot the economy, Shan noted that “Symbolic measures that aim at boosting confidence, such as RRR cuts, seem more likely to us, especially around quarter-end when liquidity demand is high”.
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has been implementing a series of monetary policies aimed at getting the economy back on its feet. These actions will be complementary to Shan’s primary trigger in the near to mid-term.
China’s Economic Data Missed Broad Expectations amid Wobbled Recovery
