China Stock Markets Close in the Negative as US Duties on Imports Impact Economy

China closes in the negative

Chinese stock markets closed the session negative, reducing the announcement of US duties on the import of products made in China with a low energy impact, starting with e-cars, and the data on prices consumers for April, always on the line of deflation: the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.21%, to 3,148.02 points, and the Shenzhen index lost 0.95%, to 1,766.79. Consumer prices in April, published over the weekend, showed signs of improvement in China with annual growth of 0.30% for the third month in a row in April, compared to expectations of +0.10%, the same data from the previous month. On a cyclical basis, the increase was 0.1% compared to -1% in March, equal to the fastest slowdown in the past three years. According to the Office for National Statistics, producer prices were instead firmly anchored in the downward spiral for the 19th consecutive month: the contraction in April was 2.5%, better than -2.8% in March, but worse than the 2.3% estimated the night before. In addition, China’s credit sector contracted in April as government bond sales slowed, while loan expansion was worse than expected, pointing to weak demand despite the efforts of Beijing authorities. . Total funding, a broad measure of credit, fell by nearly 200 billion yuan ($27.7 billion) from a month earlier, according to data released over the weekend by the Central Bank (PBOC). This is the first time there has been a decline since comparative data began in 2017, showing a decline in funding activity.