The latest economic data released by Beijing is disappointing.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (SNB), Chinese industrial production in July was up 6.4% year on year.
This pace is lower than the previous month and analysts' expectations.
In addition, retail sales in July experienced their weakest growth since the start of the year, a situation linked among other things to
"the spread of the epidemic in China",
according to the BNS.
The number of officially listed daily Covid-19 cases is still counted in only dozens, but their progression in July until August 10 is worrying.
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"This news confirms a slowdown in the pace of growth that we had already noted since last month"
in the second largest economy, said Daniel Larrouturou, manager at Dôm Finance, quoted by AFP.
The markets consider that these statistics can be elements
"precursors of what can happen in the United States and in Europe", he
explains.
Commodities fall back
Signs of a slowdown in the Middle Kingdom weighed on many markets. Wall Street opened at half mast as the CAC 40, which was on the verge of hitting its all-time high last week, stalled, falling to 6,838.77 points, after going above 6,900 points on Friday. The metals and commodities sectors retreated in a move that then spread to other more cyclical stocks. Oil prices have further descended, betraying investor concern over crude demand in China.
