China’s retail sales and factory output grew last month by the least this year, deepening concern over the health of the world’s second-largest economy.

Retail sales rose 3.4% from a year earlier, while production at factories expanded 5.2%, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the smallest gain since August 2024.

Other figures underscored a deteriorating outlook. Fixed-asset investment in the first eight months of the year grew just 0.5%, the worst reading for the period on record except for the pandemic year of 2020. Home prices fell at a faster pace last month, with new-home sales in Beijing sliding 19% from a year earlier.

The weak data comes after a stronger first half of the year, when exports boomed and the economy expanded 5.3%. Much may depend on the outcome of diplomacy between China and the US, with a 90-day tariff truce between the nations is set to expire in early November.

Policy makers may feel the need to enact more stimulus as deflationary pressures persist. Data last week showed producer prices dropped 2.9% in August from a year earlier. Yet a stock market boom is likely to temper enthusiasm for easing — in case it fuels a bubble.—Richard Frost

What You Need to Know Today

China ruled that Nvidia violated anti-monopoly laws with a high-profile 2020 deal, ratcheting up the pressure on Washington during sensitive trade negotiations. The US chipmaker was found in violation of antitrust regulations after the acquisition of networking gear maker Mellanox Technologies, the State Administration for Market Regulation said. Nvidia’s shares fell about 2% in pre-market trading.

Separately, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US and China are “very close” to resolving the TikTok issue. He spoke before he and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began a second day of dialog with their Chinese counterparts in Madrid.

One of the world’s hottest trades is fading fast. Shares of Pop Mart, the Chinese maker of Labubu dolls, have fallen more than 20% from their peak amid concern speculative demand for the designer toys is evaporating.  The premium once commanded by Labubus — the firm’s rabbit-eared plush dolls sought by celebrities from BlackPink’s Lisa to David Beckham — is narrowing in secondary markets in China. The stock has lost almost $13 billion since reaching a record on Aug. 26.

Labubu toys at a Pop Mart store in Beijing. Photographer: Na Bian/Bloomberg

It’s not just dolls. Chinese EV maker BYD faces pressure to restore investor confidence after a $45 billion stock selloff, with growing concerns over its ability to fend off competition amid a destructive price war in China. The company’s shares have tumbled more than 30% since reaching a record in May. BYD has been a major driver of the multiple rounds of discounts over the past few years as makers fight for market share.

Thai authorities are considering a tax on physical gold trading to slow a rally in the nation’s currency that has threatened exports and tourism. The baht fell the most in six weeks. The Bank of Thailand and Ministry of Finance are discussing ways to tax gold bought and sold through various online channels and settled in baht, according to people familiar with the matter. Any such levy may exempt gold traded in US dollars, on futures exchanges, or purchases made from bullion shops, the people said.

The son of Nepal’s richest tycoon said last week’s protesters had valid grievances, days after young demonstrators torched government buildings and homes of the wealthy in the Himalayan nation, forcing the country’s top leadership to resign. “The youth are not seeing the country move forward to a degree they envisaged,” Nirvana Chaudhary, the managing director of the noodle-to-banking Chaudhary Group told Bloomberg Television. Their frustrations and allegations are, “to a large extent, valid,” he added, citing years of political instability and a weak economy.

Army personnel outside Singha Durbar, the main administrative building for the Nepal government, after it was set ablaze by protesters, in Kathmandu on Sept. 12. Photographer: Pedro Pardo/AFP

South Korea has abandoned a plan to lower the capital gains tax threshold for stock investors, marking President Lee Jae Myung’s first major policy reversal since taking office in June. The decision follows months of opposition from Lee’s core voter base, many of whom are retail investors. The plan had raised questions about the government’s commitment to reviving the stock market and triggered a selloff in August that erased billions in value. 

HBO Max’s new medical show The Pitt took home the Emmy award for best drama, while The Studio, on Apple TV+, won for best comedy. Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns the HBO Max streaming platform, also saw Noah Wyle win best actor in a drama for his work on The Pitt. Jean Smart was given the award for best actress in a comedy and Hannah Einbinder best supporting actress for their work on Hacks.

What You’ll Need to Know Tomorrow

For Your Commute

The new 3.2-kilometer (2 mile) stretch of Berlin’s A100 ring road that opened last month after 12 years of development and around €720 million ($842 million) of investment should have symbolized Germany’s belated conversion to more infrastructure spending.

Instead, the ribbon cutting was overshadowed by growing alarm about the dilapidated state of the nation’s road bridges, including those on the Autobahn built during the country’s post-World War II economic boom; these overpasses and river crossings are rapidly wearing out, and thousands must now be refurbished or replaced. Read more by Bloomberg Opinion’s Chris Bryant here. 

The highway bridge construction site on the closed A45 highway near Luedenscheid, Germany in March. Photographer: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg

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