NDRC National Information Center data show China’s leading indicators improved
in October: investment in new infrastructure and emerging industries accelerated
and consumption momentum steadied. Nationwide construction machinery utilization
rose 0.7 percentage points YoY, with both YoY and MoM growth turning positive
for a second consecutive month, indicating faster project construction. Policy
follow-through and accelerated progress on major “six networks” projects helped
lift investment and improve structure. Bids for new infrastructure tied to
computing power and data rose 45.4% YoY; capital investment in frontier areas
such as artificial intelligence increased more than threefold YoY. Consumer
payments were up 2.6% YoY and an offline consumer activity index rose 1.8% YoY.
