China’s August factory output, retail sales miss expectations

BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s industrial output grew 5.2% year-on-year in August, slowing from the 5.7% pace the previous month and missing forecasts, while retail sales growth also slowed, official data showed on Monday.

The industrial output data, released by the National Bureau of Statistics, compared with forecasts for a 5.7% increase in a Reuters poll.

Retail sales, a gauge of consumption, expanded 3.4% in August after rising 3.7% in July, missing a forecast gain of 3.9%.

Fixed asset investment grew 0.5% in the first eight months compared with the same period last year, versus an expected 1.4% increase and a 1.6% expansion in the January-to-July period.

(Reporting by Kevin Yao, Joe Cash and Yukun Zhang; Editing by Sam Holmes)