Chinese fixed asset investment rose 4.1 percent on the year-to-date for January and February combined, accelerating from an increase of 3.2 percent in December and above the consensus forecast of 3.4 percent. Separate year-over-year data for January and February are not published because of the impact of differences in the timing of lunar new year holidays from year to year. In month-over-month terms, fixed asset investment rose 0.49 percent in February.

Today's data follow recent policy measures aimed at supporting economic activity and a shift in the official monetary policy stance from"prudent" to"moderately loose". In their statement accompanying today's data, officials characterised the data as showing the economy has"got off to a steady start" in 2025, but cautioned that the external environment is"complex and severe" and that domestic demand remains"weak". Officials pledged to"implement more proactive and effective macro policies" but provided no specific guidance about whether additional changes to policy settings will be considered in the near-term.

Data published today were generally stronger than consensus forecasts. The China's RPI rose from plus 29 to plus 50 while the RPI-P rose from plus 83 to plus 90, indicating that recent Chinese data in sum are now coming in well above consensus forecasts.

Growth in fixed asset investment has hovered around 3.4 percent for years and forecasters see another 3.4 percent reading for February versus 3.2 percent in January.

Investment in fixed assets refers to the investment in construction and purchase of fixed assets by private and state-controlled domestic enterprises and households (excluding rural households) involving a total planned investment of CNY5 million yuan or more. Separate data for private investment and state-controlled investment are published as well as more detailed data on an industry basis.

Investment in fixed assets is an important part of gross domestic product and also provides the additional productive capacity to an economy that is required to drive future growth. Strong growth in this category of spending indicates that enterprises are confident about future prospects and is generally associated with rising employment and incomes.

Investment in fixed assets therefore provides information about near-term and future economic growth. Investors need to closely track the economic growth because it usually dictates how investments will perform. Investors in the stock market like to see healthy economic growth because robust business activity translates to higher corporate profits. Bond investors are more highly sensitive to inflation and robust economic activity could potentially pave the road to inflation. By tracking economic data such as GDP, investors will know what the economic backdrop is for these markets and their portfolios.