Chinese fixed asset investment rose 0.5 percent on the year-to-date in August, slowing sharply from an increase of 1.6 percent in July and well below the consensus forecast of 1.4 percent. In month-over-month terms, fixed asset investment fell 0.20 percent in August after dropping 0.63 percent in July. Ongoing weakness in property sector investment was outweighed by solid gains in manufacturing and infrastructure investment. Excluding the property sector, investment rose 4.2 percent year-to-date.

In their statement accompanying monthly data published today, officials characterised the data as showing the economy"maintained a generally stable momentum with steady progress" despite"unstable and uncertain factors in external environment. Officials reiterated their commitment to implement existing macroeconomic policies but provided no specific guidance about whether additional changes to policy settings will be considered in the near-term.

Data published today were weaker than consensus forecasts. The China's RPI and RPI-P fell from plus 14 and plus 10 to minus 14 and minus 30 respectively, indicating that recent Chinese data in sum are coming in just below consensus forecasts.

Forecasters see FAI growth year on year even worse at 1.4 percent in August versus an already-low 1.6 percent in July.

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.