Chinese fixed asset investment fell 0.5 percent on the year-to-date in September, weakening from an increase of 0.5 percent in August and well below the consensus forecast of 0.2 percent. In month-over-month terms, fixed asset investment fell 0.07 percent in September after dropping 0.20 percent in August. Ongoing weakness in property sector investment was outweighed by solid gains in manufacturing and infrastructure investment. Excluding the property sector, investment rose 3.0 percent year-to-date.

In their statement accompanying today's data, officials characterised the data as showing the economy"maintained a stable momentum of progress". Although officials refrained from explicitly referring to trade tensions with the United States, they noted that"the economy still faces multiple risks and challenges, with increasing external instability and uncertainty". Officials reiterated their commitment to"more proactive macroeconomic policies" but provided no specific guidance about whether changes to policy settings will be considered in the near-term.

Data published today were mixed relative to consensus forecasts. The China's RPI and RPI-P rose from minus 14 and minus 10 to minus 2 and plus 7 respectively, indicating that recent Chinese data in sum are coming in close to consensus forecasts.

Forecasters see FAI growth even lower at a vanishingly low 0.2 percent in September year on year versus a 0.5 percent in August.

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.