China's 1Q retail sales rise

May retail sales in China rose to US$126 billion, an increase of 21.6% over last May and one of the fastest increases in nine years, Bloomberg reported. Construction materials sales rose 9.3%, possibly because of relief work after the May 12 Sichuan earthquake, an economist said. Urban disposable incomes for the first quarter rose to US$635, an 11.5% increase from a year earlier. China’s retail sales grew seven times faster than the US figure, highlighting China’s economic strength even as global economic growth slows, according to the newswire.