The offshore yuan hovered around 6.71 per dollar on Tuesday, extending its pullback from a more than three-year high as a run of mixed data highlighted the fragility of China’s economic recovery. Fixed-asset investment fell 7.2% in the January–August period, the sharpest decline for that span since January–April 2020, while retail sales growth slowed to 0.4% in August, a three-month low. The unemployment rate ticked up to 5.3% in August from 5.2% in July, reaching its highest level in five months.
There were some brighter signs. The house price index slipped 3% year-on-year in August, the smallest drop since December 2025, and industrial output growth accelerated to 5.2% from 4.5% in July. Although Beijing has begun to step up fiscal support after a prolonged pullback in public spending, policymakers remain under pressure to roll out additional stimulus, as growth risks undershooting the official 4.5%–5.0% annual target for a second consecutive quarter.
