Better data from China gives optimism to the markets

China on Wednesday released a slew of official economic data that beat expectations, including the widely anticipated gross domestic product figure.

Beijing said its economy expanded by 6.4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019, topping the 6.3 percent that analysts polled had expected. China’s economy grew by 6.4 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of last year, and 6.8 percent in the first quarter of 2018.

The Asian economic giant also released other economic indicators:

Industrial production jumped 8.5 percent year-on-year in March — surging past the 5.9 percent estimated to register the fastest growth since July 2014.
Retail sales for March grew by 8.7 percent year-on-year, beating Reuters’ projection of 8.4 percent.
Fixed asset investment in the first quarter increased by 6.3 percent year-on-year, in line with expectations.
Investors have been watching the health of the Chinese economy — the world’s second largest — amid Beijing’s ongoing trade dispute with Washington. Official GDP figures are widely followed, but many experts have long expressed skepticism about the veracity of China’s reports.

Stimulus ‘taking effect’
On the latest set of official data, analysts attributed the generally better-than-expected performance to measures taken by Beijing to support the economy.

Read more:

• Germany – Retail sales above expectations 2.1% vs 1.1%
• China – Caixin manufacturing PMI below expectations 51.5 vs 51.8
• China – Manufacturing PMI above expectations 50.2 vs 50.1
• USA – Initial jobless claims better than expected
• UK – BoE interest rate decision as expected