China’s Economic Data Falls Far Short of Expectations as ‘Zero Covid’ Hurts Output

(Bloomberg) — China’s April economic data came in weaker than expected, with Covid outbreaks and lockdowns dragging the industrial and consumer sectors down to the lowest levels since early 2020 as millions of residents were confined to their homes and factories were forced to halt production. 

Industrial output fell 2.9% in April from a year ago, worse than the median estimate of a 0.5% increase in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Retail sales contracted 11.1% in the period, weaker than a projected 6.6% drop. The unemployment rate climbed to 6.1%, higher than the forecast of 6%.