China retail sales, industrial data grow faster than expected in October

cnbc.com:

BEIJING — China on Wednesday reported better-than-expected retail sales and industrial data for October, while the real estate drag worsened. 

Retail sales grew by 7.6% last month from a year ago, above the 7% growth forecast by a Reuters poll.

Industrial production rose by 4.6% year-on-year in October, faster than the 4.4% pace predicted by the Reuters poll.

Fixed asset investment for the first 10 months of the year grew by 2.9% from a year ago, missing expectations for a 3.1% increase.

Investment into real estate fell by 9.3% during that time, a steeper decline than the 9.1% drop reported for the first nine months of the year.

The urban unemployment rate was 5%, the National Bureau of Statistics said. That was unchanged from September. The bureau has suspended reports of the unemployment rate for young people since summer.

Within retail sales, sports and other leisure entertainment products saw sales surge by 25.7% in October from a year ago, the data showed.

Catering, as well as alcohol and tobacco, saw sales surge by double digits. Auto-related sales rose by 11.4% from a year ago.

The first week of October marked the final big public holiday for the year in China, known as Golden Week. Official data showed domestic tourism spending recovered to nearly 2019 levels, but that was partly due to more people staying within the country since overseas trips had yet to fully return to pre-pandemic levels.

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