China closes in negative
The Chinese stock markets closed the session negative, discounting the expected 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 consumer prices for April, always on the line of deflation: the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.21%, to 3,148.02 points, while that of Shenzhen lost 0.95%, to 1,766.79. April consumer prices, released 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 sharpest slowdown in the last three years. According to the National Statistics Office, producer prices were instead firmly anchored in the deflationary 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 on the eve. Additionally, China’s credit sector contracted in April as government bond sales slowed, while loan expansion was worse than expected, signaling weak demand despite efforts by Beijing authorities. Aggregate financing, a broad calculation 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). It is the first time there has been a decline since comparable data began in 2017, reflecting a contraction in financing activities.
