Chinese fixed asset investment fell 2.6 percent on the year-to-date in October, weakening further from a fall of 2.3 percent in October and below the consensus forecast for a drop of 2.3 percent. In month-over-month terms, fixed asset investment fell 1.03 percent in November after dropping 1.62 percent in October. Ongoing weakness in property sector investment outweighed solid gains in manufacturing and infrastructure investment. Excluding the property sector, investment rose 0.8 percent year-to-date.

In their statement accompanying today's data, officials characterised the data as showing the economy sustained"the momentum of steady progress" despite"multiple challenges of external instability" and"insufficient effective domestic demand". Officials provided no specific guidance about whether changes to policy settings will be considered in the near-term, but reaffirmed their commitment to"proactive" macroeconomic policies.

Data published today were mixed relative to consensus forecasts. The China's RPI and RPI-P fell from zero and plus 10 to minus 29 and minus 30 respectively, indicating that recent Chinese data in sum are coming in below consensus forecasts.

After dropping by an unheard-of 2.2 percent in October, the November call looks for no recovery with a drop of 2.3 percent. It’s shocking to see declines in this series after years of rapid growth.

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.