China has unveiled a rash of horrific data, further hammering markets after the Fed’s emergency rate cut set panic amongst investors worried about the empty monetary tool kit were the coronavirus crisis to worsen.China’s fixed asset investments in the January February period contracted 24.5%, a fall much steeper than the estimated 2% forecast. The country’s industrial output in the first two months of the year dropped 13.5%, falling more speedily than the -3% forecast, and retail sales plunged 20.5%, worse than the forecast contraction of 4%.“The latest activity and spending data were much weaker than expected and point to a far deeper downturn than during the Global Financial Crisis. While domestic conditions should improve slowly in the coming months, the mounting global disruption from the coronavirus will hold back the pace of recovery,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, Senior China Economist at Capital Economics.
Source : https://asiatimes.com