‘Little room for complacency’: 6 takeaways from China’s October economic data

1. Retail sales hit eight-month high

The reading beat expectations of 3.9 per cent growth projected by economists polled by Chinese financial data provider Wind.

“China’s economy improved further at the start of the fourth quarter, thanks to stronger-than-expected consumer spending,” said Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics.

Betty Wang, lead economist at Oxford Economics, said the main drivers were the consumer trade-in programme and policy support for electric vehicle purchases.

Sales of household appliances soared by 45.1 per cent year on year in October after growing by 25 per cent in September, outperforming other consumer goods.