China State Bureau: COVID-19 outbreaks, floods hit consumption in August

Having witnessed downbeat Industrial Production and Retail Sales growth during August, China State Bureau Spokesperson Fu Linghui said, per Reuters, “COVID-19 outbreaks, floods and a higher base of comparison hurt growth in China's retail sales in August.”

Read: China Retail Sales misses the mark by a mile, 2.5% vs 7% expected

The news also mentioned the diplomat saying that the main economic indicators, however, maintained fairly good growth and the economy was still in recovery adding that online consumption continued to be active.

Additional comments (per Reuters)

Unemployment rate of young people improved, indicates policy support is having effect.

Pressure on employment still exists however.

Market reaction

Given the cautiously optimistic comments, AUD/USD rebounds from the intraday low, also the lowest level in September following the news.

Read: AUD/USD refreshes monthly low around 0.7300 on softer China data, firmer USD