China’s industrial output and retail sales growth recorded their fastest growth in five months with both exceeding forecasts. Industrial production output rose to 6.3 per cent in August, and higher than July’s six per cent increase. This was the fastest expansion since March when output rose to 6.8 per cent. Production was above the median market forecast of 6.2 per cent growth. Retail sales increased 10.6 per cent annually, higher than the 10.2 per cent increase reported in July. Economists had projected that growth would remain at 10.2 per cent.

From January to August, fixed asset investment was up by 8.1 per cent, exceeding economists’ estimate of 7.9 pr cent. The growth of private investment in fixed asset remained unchanged at 2.1 per cent.

Last week Eurostat said industrial production in the eurozone fell for the first time in four months but less than expected in July. This signals that the eurozone’s modest economic recovery is unlikely to quickly regain momentum following a slowdown in the second quarter.

Industrial production fell by 0.5 per cent year-on year after a 0.7 per cent gain in June, revised from 0.4 per cent. Analysts had expected a 0.8 per cent drop. On a monthly basis, industrial production fell 1.1 per cent after a 0.8 per cent rise in June, revised from 0.6 per cent. Economists expected a one per cent fall.

The US Labour Department said import prices saw a modest decrease in August. The report revealed that import prices fell by 0.2 per cent in August after a 0.1 per cent increase in July. Economists had expected that import process would decline by 0.1 per cent in August. Last month’s decrease was the first time since a 0.5 per cent drop in February.

The fall in US import prices was mainly due to a continuous drop in petroleum costs, which fell 2.1 per cent in August after falling 2.5 per cent in July. The Labour Department said the drop in petroleum prices more than offset the rise in prices for natural gas. Compared to same month of last year, import prices fell by 2.2 per cent in August, while export prices fell by 2.4 per cent.

This report was compiled by Bank of Valletta plc for general information purposes only.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.