- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- In a first, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Bangladeshi Hindus shrug off attack worries to celebrate festival
- Ubisoft fears assassin's hit over falling sales
- Vietnam, China hold talks on calming South China Sea tensions
- SpaceX will try to 'catch' giant Starship rocket shortly before landing
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgery: reports
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- 'Little Gregory' murder haunts France 40 years on
- Tariffs, tax cuts, energy: What is in Trump's economic plan?
- Amazon wants to be everything to everyone
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- 'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show
- Kyrgyzstan opens rare probe into glacier destruction
- European Mediterranean states discuss Middle East, migration
- Thunberg leads pro-Palestinian, climate protest in Milan
- Stock markets diverge before China weekend briefing
- EU questions shopping app Temu over illegal products risk
- Han Kang's books sell out in South Korea after Nobel win
- Shanghai markets sink ahead of briefing on mixed day for Asia
- Investors, analysts eye bigger China stimulus at Saturday briefing
- Musk unveils robotaxi, pledges it 'before 2027'
- At least 11 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Asian markets mixed after Wall St drop, Shanghai dips before briefing
- Automaker Stellantis says CEO will retire in 2026
- Musk's promised robotaxi unveil delayed
- On US coast, wind power foes embrace 'Save the Whales' argument
- At least 10 dead in Florida after Hurricane Milton spawns tornadoes
- Internet Archive reels from 'catastrophic' cyberattack, data breach
- Wall Street stocks retreat from records on US inflation data
- Israel strikes central Beirut, killing 22
- Solar storm could impact US hurricane recovery efforts: agency
- Delta eyes Election Day travel pullback as profits climb
- Florida battered by hurricane, floods but spared 'worst-case scenario'
- UK's William and Kate in first joint public engagement since cancer treatment
- Over 200 women in legal talks with Harrods over Fayed abuse claims
- A very stiff breeze: BBC says sorry for 20,000 kph wind forecast
China economic data for April miss expectations as demand cools
China's economic data for April missed expectations last month, official figures showed Tuesday, as low demand and high youth unemployment led to a patchy recovery after lifting strict Covid rules.
Retail sales -- a key indicator of domestic consumer activity -- grew 18.4 percent on-year, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.
The reading was short of the 21.9 percent forecast in a survey of economists by Bloomberg, even as shoppers and diners returned to malls and restaurants.
Low domestic demand despite low inflation has slowed China's economic recovery.
Beijing has set a growth target of around five percent this year, the lowest goal in decades, with Premier Li Qiang warning it "will be no easy task".
Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said: "The growth target for this year is set at a low level, which leaves room for the government to wait and see."
Unemployment among China's urban 16-24-year-olds reached a record high of 20 percent in April, as the services sector was slow to absorb millions of rural migrants flocking to cities.
Overall urban unemployment slipped to 5.2 percent in April, from 5.3 percent in March.
Industrial production for April rose 5.6 percent, a little more than half the 10.9 percent growth expected as factories gradually returned to full capacity after scrapping disruptive lockdown rules.
Fixed asset investments from January through April increased 4.7 percent, below the 5.7 percent forecast, as debt-laden local governments were forced to cut back on big infrastructure projects.
China's central bank yesterday said the world's second-largest economy was not on course to suffer from deflation, after data showed consumer prices edged up just 0.1 percent year-on-year in April, the slowest rate recorded since 2021.
"Consumer prices are still rising moderately... and economic operations continue to improve, which does not conform to the characteristics of deflation," the report reviewing monetary policy implementation in the first quarter said.
"In the medium and long term, there is also no basis for... deflation."
Ch.Lefebvre--CPN