China’s economy continued to slow in December as the massive Covid-19 outbreak spread across the country, with activity slumping as more people stay home to try and avoid getting sick or to recover.
Bloomberg’s aggregate index of eight early indicators showed a contraction in activity in December from an already weak pace in November and the outlook is grim for the New Year.
The situation was even worse for shops and restaurants in Beijing than it was across the nation as a whole, with retail sales in the city dropping almost 18 percent in November as both cases and restrictions in the capital increased. That looks to be impacting home and car sales, which both fell in the first weeks of this month. Car sales had been supported by government subsidies and were a bright spot for consumer spending this year, but began dropping last month as consumers pulled back. That in turn hit industrial output, with production of cars dropping for the first time since May, when many factories were forced to close.
The price of iron ore was also headed for a modest weekly drop as a surge in Covid cases clouded the near-term demand outlook and undermined the effect of recent announcements of support for the real-estate sector. Chinese steel mills are currently reducing production, Guangfa Futures said in a note, with data from an industry association showing output falling and stockpiles rising in the middle of this month.
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