China industrial profits extend 8 month drop

Profits at China’s industrial firms extended a double-digit drop for the first eight months, but the pace of declines eased slightly as a flurry of policy support steps has started to stabilise parts of the stuttering economy, reports Reuters. The 11.7% year-on-year fall in profits narrowed from a 15.5% contraction for the first seven months, in line with expectations and potentially suggests a modest recovery is beginning to take root for some businesses.

That was backed up by August earnings posting a surprise surge of 17.2% from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Wednesday. Profits were down 6.7% in July.

“This data reflected that domestic demand has stabilised and the demand and supply side has seen balanced recovery,” said Bruce Pang, chief economist at Jones Lang Lasalle.