China's August retail sales miss forecast while investment slump deepens, piling pressure on Beijing

Pedestrians pass an Apple Inc. store in the Wangfujing shopping area in Beijing, China, on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. China's consumer inflation accelerated last month as the country reopened and the Lunar New Year holiday spurred demand, although gains remain muted enough for the central bank to keep easing monetary policy to support the economy's recovery. Source: BloombergBloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesChina's investment slump deepened and retail sales growth slowed further in August while industrial output topped estimates with authorities warning of acute supply-demand imbalance at home. Retail sales grew 0.4% in August from a year earlier, data from National Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday, slowing from 0.6% in the prior month and missing economists' forecast for a 0.8% growth in a Reuters poll. Industrial output expanded 5.2% last month, accelerating from 4.5% growth in July and outperforming economists expectations for a 4.8% rise. For the first eight months of the year, urban fixed-asset investment, which covers property and infrastructure investment, shrank 7.2% from a year earlier, steepening from 6.7% decline in the January-to-July period, matching analysts' exp...