Key insights
- China's April industrial output and retail sales growth missed expectations, signaling a potential slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. Weaker Chinese demand could negatively impact US companies with significant exposure to the Chinese market, particularly in sectors like consumer discretionary and materials, leading to downward revisions in earnings forecasts.
BEIJING, May 18 (Reuters) - China’s industrial output grew 4.1% in April from a year earlier, slowing from the 5.7% pace in March, official data showed on Monday.
The data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) missed expectations for a 5.9% increase in a Reuters poll.
Retail sales, a gauge of consumption, rose just 0.2% in April, slowing sharply from 1.7% in March and were well below forecast centred on a 2% increase.
Fixed-asset investment unexpectedly contracted 1.6% in the first four months of 2026, compared with a 1.7% rise in the January-March period. Economists had predicted a 1.6% expansion.