BEIJING — October readings for China’s major economic indicators came in better than expected, despite rising headwinds from renewed COVID outbreaks, a property market downturn and power shortages.
Industrial production rose 3.5% from a year earlier in October, speeding up from September’s 3.1% expansion, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday.
The result was also higher than the 2.8% median forecast made by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
Industrial output had cooled quickly in September amid a widespread power crunch resulting from coal shortages and the government’s ambitious carbon emissions-reduction efforts.
Retail sales, a key gauge of consumption, increased 4.9% in October, higher than September’s 4.4% growth and the 3.5% rise expected by the economists surveyed by the WSJ.
Fixed-asset investment rose 6.1% in the January-to-October period from a year earlier, slowing from the 7.3% pace set in the first three quarters, official data showed. Economists had anticipated an increase of 6.2% in the first ten months of the year.
China’s urban unemployment rate stayed unchanged at 4.9% in October and the government said it has met its annual job creation target after adding 11.33 million jobs in the first ten months.
This post was originally published on Market Watch
