A
Chinese
flag
in
Pudong’s
Lujiazui
Financial
District
in
Shanghai,
China,
on
Sept.
18,
2023.
Raul
Ariano
|
Bloomberg
|
Getty
Images
China’s
industrial
profits
grew
at
a
faster
clip
in
June,
official
data
showed
on
Saturday,
even
as
businesses
were
grappling
with
a
downshift
in
consumers’
sentiment
amid
a
shaky
economic
recovery.
A
3.6%
year-on-year
rise
in
profits
last
month
followed
a
0.7%
gain
in
May,
while
first-half
earnings
were
up
3.5%,
accelerating
from
a
3.4%
increase
in
the
January-May
period,
National
Bureau
of
Statistics
(NBS)
data
showed.
The
robust
data
contrasted
with
a slowing
economy, which
missed
forecasts
in
the
second
quarter
as
the
consumer
sector
was
downbeat
amid
job
market
woes
and
a
protracted
housing
downturn.
Roughly
half
of
more
than
10
mainland-listed
alcoholic
beverage
firms
that
had
released
forecasts
for
H1
earnings
expected
a
loss-making
first
half.
Yet in
spite
of
rising
trade
tensions
with
the
West,
optical
transceiver
firms
Zhongji
Innolight and
Suzhou
TFC
Optical
Communication forecast
multi-fold
rises
in
first-half
earnings,
as
the
two
suppliers
for
U.S.
chip
giant
Nvidia turn
out
to
be
big
winners
from
a
global
artificial
intelligence
build
out.
China
is
trying
to
provide
heavier
monetary
stimulus
to
prop
up
its
fragile
economy,
surprising
markets
for
a
second
time
on
Thursday
by
conducting
an unscheduled lending
operation
at
steeply
lower
rates.
Only
days
earlier
the
authorities
cut
several
benchmark
lending
rates
in
the
wake
of
a
top
leadership
meeting,
which
had
mapped
out
other
major
reforms.
The
country’s
state
planner
and
finance
ministry
announced plans on
Thursday
to
arrange
about
300
billion
yuan
of
funds
from
ultra-long
special
treasury
bonds
to
step
up
a
nationwide
equipment
upgrade
and
consumer
goods
trade-in
campaign.
State-owned
firms
reported
profits
up
0.3%
in
the
first
half,
foreign
firms
recorded
an
11%
gain,
while
private-sector
companies
booked
a
6.8%
rise,
according
to
a
breakdown
of
the
NBS
data.
Industrial
profit
numbers
cover
firms
with
annual
revenues
of
at
least
20
million
yuan
($2.75
million)
from
their
main
operations.
