China's economy again shows uneven recovery in October
Official figures show that the uneven recovery in the mainland economy continued last month, with strong retail sales offset by continued weakness in property-related sectors, while growth in industrial output remained steady.  Retail sales, a key gauge of consumer sentiment, jumped by 7.6 percent year on year in October, beating market expectations of around 7 percent growth.  It also marked a significant improvement compared with the 5.5 percent growth seen in September and was the largest expansion in five months.  Analysts said the surge was boosted by shopping sprees by mainland residents during the eight-day National Day Golden Week holiday this year. Industrial output also showed resilience, rising by 4.6 percent year on year in October, up from the 4.5 percent growth a month earlier. There was still pressure on property-related sectors, however, with real estate investment dropping by 9.3 percent in the first 10 months of the year, compared with the same period last year.  Fixed-asset investments, a key driver of the country’s growth, expanded by 2.9 percent in the first 10 months of the year from the same period last year, down from the 3.1 percent growth in the first nine months.  Commenting on the latest figures, Liu Aihua, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics, said the national economy overall sustained “good momentum of recovery". “However, we should be aware that many unstable and uncertain factors in the external environment still exist, the domestic demand remains insufficient and the foundation for economic recovery and growth needs to be further consolidated,” she said, adding that authorities will take further steps to implement macro regulation in a targeted manner to expand domestic demand while fending off risks.  Liu also said that China will release data on youth employment in a timely manner.  Her comments came after China suspended publishing its youth jobless data after the reading hit a record high of 21.3 percent in June. The overall surveyed urban jobless rate for October remained unchanged at 5 percent On a quarterly basis, China’s economy surprised the market by rising 1.3 percent in the latest quarter.