Industry, retail and investment all showed marked improvements in August, as the Chinese economy continued its broad-based recovery from the ravages of the coronavirus earlier this year. Retail sales, a vital metric of consumption in the world’s biggest market, grew by 0.5 per cent compared to the same month last year, up from minus 1.1 per cent in July and ahead of analysts’ expectations of 0.0 per cent growth. This marked the first growth in the retail sector this year, with January and February’s data having been combined to account for distortions relating to the pandemic. Industrial production, which gauges m ... (full story)