Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with visiting US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Tuesday in Beijing.

Li called on both sides to enhance cooperation, reduce friction and confrontation, and work together to cope with global challenges.

Raimondo said the US had no intention to contain China’s development or decouple from China.

Raimondo is wrapping up her four-day visit in Shanghai on Wednesday, where she met with Shanghai Party Secretary and Chinese women executives.

China’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 49.7 in August from July’s 49.3 official data showed on Thursday.

Despite the rise, factory activity remain contracted for the fifth straight month in August as the 50-mark separates growth from contraction.

Meanwhile, new orders and production all expanded in August.

The non-manufacturing PMI fell to 51 from last month’s 51.5.

 

Revenues of China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) rose 4.3% in the first seven months of the year from the same period last year, the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday.

Profits of SOEs grew 3.9% year on year.

The Ministry said taxes and fees from the SOEs fell 2.9%.

 

Chinese railways saw 409 million passengers in July, up 80.9% from last year, according to data from the Ministry of Transport.

Passengers trips in the first seven months of the year jumped 115.1% compared to the same period last year.

Investment in railways reached 371.3 billion yuan in the January-July period, up 7.1% from the same period in 2022.

 

The net profit of China’s biggest lender the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) rose 1.2% from a year earlier to 173.74 billion yuan in the first half of the year, according to Reuters.

ICBC’s net interest margin, a key measure for profitability, stood at 1.72% at the end of June, slightly down from 1.77% by the end of March.

Bank of China, the country fourth-largest bank, said its net profit edged up 0.78% in the first six months of the year.

The US economy grew at annualised rate of 2.1% in the second quarter, revised down from the government’s previous estimate of 2.4% annual grow rate.

The expansion was driven by upticks in consumer spending, business investment and government expenditure.

//

 

US job openings fall below 9 million

 

US job openings dropped below 9 million in July, the lowest since March 2021.

Data from the the Labor of Statistics on Tuesday showed that the number of job openings were down 338,000 to 8.8 million on the last business day of July.

The number of people who quit their jobs also dropped to 3.5 million.

The professional and business services sector led the drop in job openings, where the number of vacancies dropped 198,000.

 

Spanish inflation grew at an annualised rate of 2.6% in August, preliminary data from the National Statistics Institute showed on Wednesday.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices rose 6.1% year on year, down from July’s 6.2%.

 

//

 

Japan’s factory output falls in July
 

 

Japan’s industrial output fell 2% in July from June, data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) showed on Thursday.

According to METI, output in many industries dropped as domestic and overseas orders decreased in July.

The drop was led by decline in output in electronic parts and devices which fell 5.1% and in production machinery which decreased 4.8%.

 

//

 

European car sales up 15% in July
 

 

 

Car sales in Europe rose 15.2% in July, data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association showed on Wednesday.

Electric vehicle sales surged 60.6% thanks to subsidies from a number of European Union countries.

EVs sales accounted for 13.6% of all new car sales while plug-in hybrids represented 7.9% of sales.