YANGZHOU,
CHINA
–
MAY
02:
Aerial
view
of
tourists
visiting
the
Dongguan
street
during
the
May
Day
holiday
on
May
2,
2023.
Vcg
|
Visual
China
Group
|
Getty
Images
China’s
economic
data
for
April
broadly
missed
expectations
as
the
economy
continued
to
show
an
uneven
path
of
recovery
from
the
impact
of
its
stringent
Covid
restrictions.
Industrial
production
for
April
rose
by
5.6%
year-on-year,
compared
to
the
10.9%
expected
by
economists
surveyed
in
a
Reuters
poll.
The
figure
was
up
3.9%
in
March
following
a
muted
start
to
the
year.
Retail
sales
rose
by
18.4%
–
lower
than
economists’
forecast
a
surge
of
21%.
Fixed
asset
investment
rose
by
4.7%,
against
expectations
of
5.5%.
The
reading
rose
5.1%
the
previous
month.
“China
is
in
the
stage
of
recovering,
compared
to
last
year,
the
numbers
are
positive
as
we
just
saw,
but
is
the
recovery
good
enough
for
the
market,
is
the
recovery
good
enough
to
meet
investors’
expectations
–
that’s
the
big
question
here,”
BofA
Securities
China
equity
strategist
Winnie
Wu
told
CNBC’s
“Street
Signs
Asia.”
“It’s
not
good
enough
to
meet
with
investors’
expectations
–
that’s
a
problem,”
Wu
said,
adding
that
the
momentum
from
China’s
pent-up
demand
seems
to
be
fading
away.
“The
recovery
of
income,
of
job
security,
and
confidence
will
take
time,”
she
said.
“Market
sentiment
remains
very
weak
in
our
client
conversations,”
Goldman
Sachs
economist
Hui
Shan
wrote
in
a
Sunday
report.
She
expects
more
measures
from
the
government
rather
than
a
change
in
interest
rates
to
improve
market
confidence.
“Symbolic
measures
that
aim
at
boosting
confidence,
such
as
RRR
cuts,
seem
more
likely
to
us,
especially
around
quarter-end
when
liquidity
demand
is
high,”
she
wrote,
referring
to
banks’
reserve
requirement
ratio
—
the
amount
of
funds
banks
need
to
hold
as
reserves.
Record-high
youth
unemployment
The
latest
data
included
a
20.4%
youth
jobless
rate,
the
unemployment
rate
between
ages
16
and
24.
The
reading
in
April
marked
a
record
high.
“Many
people,
investors
see
this
as
a
leading
indicator.
If
the
younger
people
are
unable
to
get
jobs,
don’t
have
the
income
security,
where
is
the
confidence,
where
is
the
consumption
recovery
coming
from?”
said
Wu.
She
said
the
question
of
confidence
is
resonated
in
weakened
markets
sentiment
as
well
as
other
high-frequency
data,
including
new
home
sales.