The Chinese economy is showing signs of faltering, with the latest retail sales data falling for the first time in five months and factory output growing slower than expected.
Retail sales fell by 0.5 percent in the month of October after rising by 2.5 percent in the previous month. This was the first decline in retail sales since May when it had fallen by 6.7 percent. It is also more than 6 percent below this year’s peak retail sales growth of 6.7 percent recorded in February.
China’s industrial production expanded by 5 percent year-over-year in October, less than the market expectations of 5.2 percent growth. It was lower than September’s industrial production expansion of 6.3 percent, which was the fastest growth rate in seven months….