China's retail sales growth fell to -0.6% year-on-year in May, down from 0.2% in April. The data was in line with our forecasts, but weaker than market consensus (market -0.2%, ING -0.6%). It’s the lowest level since pandemic-skewed 2022. We continued to observe the impact of the trade-in policy on related categories, which dragged down overall consumption. Beneficiary categories such as household appliances (-15.6%), autos (-16.1%), and furniture (-8.7%) saw outsized drops on the month. We’re now seeing the flip side of frontloading consumption. Gold and jewellery sales also performed poorly on the month at -8.9% ... (full story)