China GDP & Retail Sales Smash Expectations

Key News

Asian equities were mostly lower overnight except for Japan, despite an overwhelmingly positive economic release coming out of China.

China logged better-than-expected GDP growth in the first quarter of 2023 and retail sales were also unexpectedly strong. Some analysts are calling the release an indication of a continuous, rather than a sporadic, recovery. One broker used the word “revenge spending” to describe what is going on. Meanwhile, industrial production was lower than expected, likely due to slowing global demand as a potential recession looms in the US and Europe.