Oil Prices Begin Down as China Data Spooks Investors

“In order to restructure, the economy will face a few downward pressure”, said Sheng Laiyun, a spokesman for the Chinese statistics agency. Initial USA growth data have only actually been reported exactly in line with expectations three times in the last half decade.

“China’s economic growth is still sluggish with many risks remaining unresolved”, ANZ Banking Group chief economist for Greater China Liu Ligang told AFP. It has also made the economy more resilient and adaptable. Growth of 6.8 per cent had been forecast by analysts. Other regional benchmarks were mixed, higher in Taiwan and Indonesia, but lower in Thailand and Singapore.

That said, it probably won’t have escaped your notice that the global economy is in fact slowing down pretty sharply, to well below its long term average expansion rate, with the weakest economies citing China’s slowdown as the primary cause of their woes.

In a research note, Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics anticipated Beijing would take “additional incremental measures… but without going for major stimulus”.

China’s economy decelerated in the latest quarter but stronger spending by consumers who are emerging as an important pillar of growth helped to avert a deeper downturn.

Iran targets crude production of 4.7 million barrels a day by March 2021 and plans to produce 1 million barrels a day of crude condensates by the same date, Javadi said.

Fears that China is heading for an economic “hard landing” that could halt a recovery in Europe and drive the developed world back into recession next year have dominated markets since August.

Despite the spate of easing, Monday’s GDP reading was still the worst since the first quarter of 2009, when growth tumbled to 6.2 percent.

The NBS in a statement described third-quarter growth as a “slight slowdown” and said the economy was still running within a “proper range”.

Russ Mould, investment director at stockbroker AJ Bell commented, ‘Chinese headline GDP growth looks healthy at 6.9% but underlying metrics suggest the real growth rate could be nearer 3 or 4 per cent. If you look at growth in rail cargo traffic, electricity consumption and demand for loans, three metrics favoured by Prime Minister Li, the picture is not so healthy. Brent crude, a benchmark for half the world’s oil, also advanced after Baker Hughes Inc. said rigs targeting oil in the USA fell to a five-year low last week, raising speculation American output may drop.

Chris Beauchamp, senior market analyst at stockbroker IG, commented, ‘Investors in the mining sector will be pleased that Chinese GDP figures, along with industrial output and retail sales numbers, were of a fairly decent standard, since it has spared the beleaguered sector from a fresh bout of panic selling.

Fixed-asset investment climbed 10.3 percent in the first nine months from the same period a year ago, compared to a median projection of a 10.8 percent increase. “It could mean that previously-announced stimulus, such as infrastructure investments, is beginning to work”, said Yang Hai, strategist at Kaiyuan Securities.