Markets flat after Chinese data
It’s looking a little flat ahead of the European open on Monday, with data from China overnight offering another reminder of the damaging effects of trade wars.
China’s economy grew by only 6.2% in the second quarter, its slowest rate of growth in 27 years. There’s no doubt in anyone’s minds that the trade war is a major contributing factor here, especially coming at a time when the economy was already in the midst of a slowdown as it transitions away from the heavy investment, export led model to a more sustainable domestically driven one.
While industrial production, fixed asset investment and, maybe more importantly, retail sales all exceeded expectations, all the focus has been on that lower growth number. Unemployment also rose slightly but this has been volatile in the past so won’t be causing too much concern.
Chinese stocks staged something of a recovery as the session wore on but the trend is not their friend at the moment. Stocks throughout the rest of the region only posted small gains which hasn’t offered much direction for Europe and the US, where futures are looking a little flat currently.
