China’s October macro data preview

China will publish the October’s macro data later this week. September and third quarter macro data strengthened the consensus expectation that finally economic activities could pick up in the fourth quarter after being disappointed for the best part of the year.

While our medium and long term view remains more or less unchanged (i.e. pessimistic), activities will probably pick up towards the end of this year, partly because of seasonality (particularly in exports) and slow but steady pick up of growth in infrastructure. Although weaker US dollar compared to the summer probably helped, we noted that the impact from QE-Infinity in terms of possible inflow appears to be much more limited than we initially thought.

There will certainly be arguments to be made about whether this pick up of economic activities represents a sustainable recovery or simply a blip, and one might continue to question the strength of the recovery in areas other than infrastructure investments. There will also be legitimate argument on whether the pick-up in infrastructure investments and real estate market (intentional or not) point to the possibility that the government may go for growth by delaying the progress of structural adjustment once more.

For the time being, however, the fourth quarter of this year is unlikely to give nasty surprises.

Source: Bloomberg

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About Zarathustra

Zarathustra: Founder and Managing Editor of Also sprach Analyst. Once an analyst, now an investor and entrepreneur. Based in Hong Kong, but Londoner at heart.