Growth rates in industrial production and consumption (retail sales) slowed more than expected. The same happened to fixed asset investment, the main tool through which loose monetary policy stimulates the economy.

Of particular concern is the slowdown in Chinese retail sales growth (to 2.1% YoY against the consensus forecast of 2.5% and against 2.7% YoY in July).

As for China’s manufacturing activity (+4.5% YoY vs. consensus forecast of 4.7% and vs. 5.1% YoY in July), it is worth noting the strong performance of electric vehicle production, while most other industrial sectors showed a slowdown.

High-tech sectors demonstrated a decent inflow of fixed capital investment (+10.2% YoY in the first 8 months of the year), while other sectors substantially lagged behind.