China's industrial output accelerates but retail sales miss forecast

China's industrial output accelerated in August, growing 5.2% year-on-year, but a sharp slowdown in retail sales and a deepening investment slump highlighted a growing imbalance between strong supply and weak domestic demand. The data, released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday, showed retail sales expanded just 0.4%, missing forecasts and slowing from July's 0.6% gain. Fixed-asset investment declined 7.2% for the first eight months of the year, steepening from a 6.7% drop through July. The statistics bureau warned of an "acute imbalance" between robust production and fragile consumption, noting that some businesses still face operational difficulties. The urban unemployment rate ticked up to 5.3% from 5.2% in July. The figures underscore the challenge for policymakers as they seek to revive domestic demand to meet an annual growth target of around 5%. The investment contraction was driven by a continued downturn in real estate, which fell 12.9% over the January-August period. While factory output showed resilience, the broader economy entered the second half of the year on a weak footing.