Core Viewpoint - Supply contraction expectations continue to boost prices, but actual production remains relatively strong, necessitating attention to the effects of "anti-involution" policies [2][69]. Manufacturing Sector - In August, the manufacturing PMI slightly improved, with a rise of 0.1 percentage points to 49.4%, aligning with seasonal performance. The major raw material purchase price index increased by 1.8 percentage points to 53.3%, and the factory price index rose by 0.8 percentage points to 49.1% [2][8][70]. - The production index increased by 0.3 percentage points to 50.8%, while the new orders index saw a modest rise of 0.1 percentage points to 49.5%. Internal demand and new export orders both experienced slight increases [14][70]. - High-energy-consuming industries and equipment manufacturing saw PMIs rise to 48.2% and 50.5%, respectively, driven by price increases and improved external demand. High-tech manufacturing PMI rose by 1.3 percentage points to 51.9% [21][70]. Non-Manufacturing Sector - The service sector PMI improved significantly, rising by 0.5 percentage points to 50.5%, driven by summer travel. However, the construction sector PMI fell by 1.5 percentage points to 49.1%, marking a five-year low [24][71][29]. - The new orders index in the service sector increased by 1.4 percentage points to 47.7%, while the construction new orders index dropped sharply by 2.1 percentage points to 40.6% [62][71]. Future Outlook - Price indices have shown continuous improvement, but supply has not exhibited significant contraction, remaining better than demand. Future focus should be on the effects of "anti-involution" policies [33][71]. - Unlike the supply-side reform in 2016, the current situation requires attention to mid- and downstream supply, especially in cases where upstream price transmission to downstream is ineffective [33][71].

Group 1: Deep Dive on Service Industry Opening - The State Council emphasizes the need to promote institutional opening of service trade and leverage service imports to boost domestic service industry development [7] Group 2: Economic Insights from Jackson Hole - Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole conference highlighted a slowdown in economic growth, with real GDP growth at 1.2% in the first half of 2025, half of the 2024 rate, primarily due to reduced consumer spending [10][11] - The labor market shows signs of risk, with average monthly job additions dropping to 35,000 over the past three months, down from 168,000 in 2024 [11] - Inflation remains a concern, with July PCE at 2.6% year-on-year and core PCE at 2.9%, indicating a complex inflationary environment influenced by tariffs [11] Group 3: Social Security Reform - The rapid demographic changes in China necessitate improvements and reforms in the social security system, which may become a key focus during the 14th Five-Year Plan [14] Group 4: Economic Resilience - Economic growth dynamics may shift in the second half of the year, with potential vulnerabilities in certain sectors while others show resilience [17] - Manufacturing sector faces challenges, while the service sector demonstrates stronger demand resilience [25] Group 5: High-Frequency Tracking - Industrial production is showing signs of recovery, with infrastructure projects continuing to improve and port freight volumes remaining robust [21] - Profit growth in industrial enterprises is recovering, but this is largely attributed to low base effects, with ongoing cost pressures [19][21]

Group 1 - The article emphasizes the importance of service industry openness, noting that the share of services in GDP typically increases with economic development, as seen in countries like France and South Korea [3][10][22] - China's service industry has experienced a slowdown in growth since 2017, with the share of services in GDP not returning to pre-2014 levels by 2024 [3][24][33] - The government has increasingly prioritized "opening up" the service sector, with significant policy changes and a reduction in service trade restrictions, as indicated by the OECD Service Trade Restrictiveness Index dropping from above 0.27 to 0.23 [4][36] Group 2 - China's service industry openness has evolved through three phases: exploration (2001-2012), innovation (2013-2020), and deepening (2021-present), with significant policy measures introduced in each phase [5][51][65] - The exploration phase focused on fulfilling WTO commitments and gradually expanding foreign investment access in key sectors like telecommunications and finance [5][51] - The innovation phase saw the establishment of free trade zones and the introduction of negative lists for foreign investment, significantly improving market access [5][58] Group 3 - Future service industry openness in China is expected to concentrate on telecommunications, healthcare, and finance, aligning with international high-standard trade rules [6][71][84] - The government aims to enhance the openness of the service sector by actively engaging with international agreements like the CPTPP and DEPA, focusing on digital trade and data flow [7][75][81] - Specific measures include relaxing foreign ownership restrictions in telecommunications and healthcare, and expanding the scope of financial institutions [8][84]

Economic Concerns - Economic growth in the first half of 2025 remained high at 5.3% year-on-year, exceeding market expectations, primarily driven by strong exports and the "two new" policies boosting manufacturing investment and consumer goods [2][10] - Recent months have shown signs of economic concerns, particularly in the "two new" sectors, with retail sales growth declining to 3.7% in July due to factors like e-commerce promotions and a gap in national subsidies [2][10] - The real estate sector continues to drag on the economy, with credit financing for property companies falling to -15.8%, the lowest in two years, and construction area growth dropping significantly [2][17] Inflation and Price Transmission - The inflation performance in July was below market expectations, with PPI remaining low at -3.6%, attributed to the inability of upstream price increases to be transmitted downstream due to lower capacity utilization in midstream and downstream sectors [3][29] - The current capacity utilization rates are 76.7% for upstream, 74% for midstream, and 74.7% for downstream, indicating a blockage in price transmission from upstream to downstream [3][29] Service Sector Resilience - While manufacturing sector sentiment is declining, the service sector shows strong resilience, with service production index only slightly down to 5.8% in July [4][38] - Service retail sales for the first seven months of 2025 saw a minor decline of 0.1% year-on-year, indicating stable performance, with certain service categories like tourism and transportation experiencing double-digit growth [4][38] Policy Support for Services - Recent policies are increasingly favoring investments in the service sector, with loan interest subsidy policies expected to generate around 210 billion yuan in new credit for service sector entities [5][49] - The large-scale support phase for manufacturing investment appears to be over, with a shift in investment growth momentum towards the service sector anticipated [5][49] Export Performance - Current strong export performance is attributed to 70% stemming from improvements in external demand and market share, rather than the 30% related to short-term "export grabbing" factors [6][101] - In July, exports grew by 7.2% year-on-year, with significant contributions from exports to emerging economies and non-US developed countries, reflecting improved demand and market share recovery [6][101] - The potential for further increases in exports to emerging economies is supported by rising investment and demand in these regions, alongside China's growing import share in the Middle East and Africa [6][73]

Group 1: Industrial Production - Industrial production has shown signs of recovery, with the blast furnace operating rate increasing by 1.1 percentage points year-on-year to 5.9% [2][6] - Midstream production shows a mixed outlook, with PTA and automotive production performing poorly, down 6.6% and 5.9% year-on-year respectively, while soda ash and polyester filament production improved, up 0.1% to 5.8% and 0.9% to 3.1% respectively [2][16] - Cement production continues to improve, with the national grinding operating rate down 1.5 percentage points year-on-year to -5.6%, and cement shipment rates slightly up by 0.8% to -2.9% [28][32] Group 2: Demand Tracking - Daily average transaction area of new homes remains weak, up 2.9 percentage points year-on-year to -6.3%, with first-tier cities showing some recovery [52] - Port cargo throughput related to exports has significantly increased, with cargo throughput and container throughput up 7.1% to 9.7% and 6.1% to 14.8% year-on-year respectively [61][68] - The national migration scale index has decreased by 5.2 percentage points year-on-year to 16.6%, but domestic flight operations have increased by 1.0% to 2.7% [73] Group 3: Price Trends - Agricultural product prices are showing divergence, with pork and fruit prices down 0.1% and 0.8% respectively, while egg and vegetable prices increased by 1.7% and 2.5% [3][101] - The industrial product price index has generally declined, with the Nanhua industrial product price index down 1.4% [113] - The energy and chemical price index decreased by 0.9%, and the metal price index fell by 1.7% [113][120]

Core Viewpoint - The profit growth rate continues to recover, but it is more related to a low base, and current cost pressures remain high [3][9][57] Group 1: Profit and Revenue Analysis - In July, industrial profits showed a month-on-month increase of 3.3 percentage points to -1.1%, driven by cost and expense rate improvements [3][9] - The cumulative profit year-on-year decreased by 1.7%, while revenue growth was 2.3%, slightly down from the previous month's 2.5% [2][8] - The cost rate for the consumer manufacturing chain remains at a historical high of 84.2%, with the petrochemical and metallurgy chains also experiencing increases [3][9][57] Group 2: Industry-Specific Insights - The consumer manufacturing sector saw a significant decline in revenue growth, with a year-on-year drop of 2.6 percentage points to 6.2% in July [4][23] - The automotive industry's revenue growth fell sharply by 7.9 percentage points to 4.1% compared to the previous month [4][23] - In contrast, the petrochemical and metallurgy sectors experienced slight improvements in revenue, with increases of 1.1 and 1.2 percentage points, respectively [4][23] Group 3: Cost and Inventory Trends - The overall cost pressure for industrial enterprises remains high, with accounts receivable turnover rates showing no significant improvement [29][26] - Actual inventory growth saw a slight rebound, with upstream and midstream inventories performing better [44][59] - The nominal inventory decreased by 0.7 percentage points to 2.4%, while actual inventory increased by 0.3 percentage points to 7.6% [59][44] Group 4: Future Outlook - The ongoing cost pressures are primarily due to downstream "involution" investments, leading to rigid cost increases [29][58] - There is an expectation for a long-term trend of profit recovery, supported by continuous domestic demand recovery, although attention should be paid to the negative impact of upstream price surges on profitability [29][58]

Group 1 - The article highlights a rebound in manufacturing PMIs for the US, Eurozone, and Japan, indicating a recovery in overseas manufacturing demand [64][61] - The US has expanded tariffs on steel and aluminum derivatives, affecting 407 product categories with a 50% tariff, impacting approximately $138 billion in imports [42][48] - The Federal Reserve's Chairman Powell delivered a dovish speech at the Jackson Hole conference, suggesting potential adjustments to policy due to risks in the labor market [57][59] Group 2 - Major developed market indices saw increases, with the S&P 500 up 0.3% and the FTSE 100 up 2.0%, while emerging markets also showed positive trends [2][3] - The energy, real estate, and financial sectors in the US experienced gains of 2.8%, 2.4%, and 2.1% respectively, while information technology and communication services declined [6][11] - The article notes a general decline in commodity prices, with WTI crude oil rising 1.4% to $63.7 per barrel, while coking coal and rebar prices fell [32][37] Group 3 - The US 10-year Treasury yield decreased by 7.0 basis points to 4.3%, while emerging market yields generally increased, with Turkey's rising by 208.0 basis points to 31.3% [16][18] - The article reports a decrease in the US dollar index by 0.1% to 97.72, with mixed performance among other currencies [21][28] - Japan's core CPI for July exceeded expectations, indicating potential for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates in the second half of the year [61]

Group 1 - The core viewpoint of the article is that Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole conference indicates a shift towards a more dovish monetary policy stance, balancing the risks of stagflation with a focus on employment and inflation [2][3][9] - Powell's analysis highlights a "fragile balance" in the labor market, with both supply and demand weakening, leading to an increased risk of unemployment [3][11] - Inflation is influenced by tariffs, which Powell describes as having a clear but potentially "one-time" effect, necessitating close monitoring of their transmission and accumulation [3][17][18] Group 2 - The long-term monetary policy framework has been revised to return to a 2% inflation target and a broader maximum employment goal, moving away from the average inflation targeting introduced in 2020 [4][22][25] - The 2025 statement serves as a retrospective confirmation of the Fed's monetary policy strategy, acknowledging the current challenges of stagflation and the need to balance dual objectives of inflation and employment [4][25][30] - The Fed's interest rate cut expectations have risen significantly, with the implied probability of a September rate cut increasing from 72% to 94%, and the number of expected cuts for the year rising from 1.9 to 2.2 [5][31][42] Group 3 - The article discusses the potential risks associated with the Fed's rate cut expectations, particularly focusing on the labor market's performance and upcoming economic data releases [5][42][43] - The baseline scenario anticipates an increase in the unemployment rate to the range of 4.4-4.5%, which would support the case for two rate cuts within the year [5][43][48] - The long-term outlook for 2026 suggests that the market may be overly optimistic regarding the number of expected rate cuts, with a need to monitor the upward pressure on long-term Treasury yields and the risk of a reversal in the dollar's value [5][53][70]

Group 1: Deep Topics - The contribution of "export grabbing" to export growth in the first half of the year may be overestimated, with non-US demand recovery and emerging market share increase being key factors for future growth sustainability [9] - The impact of "reciprocal tariffs" and "transshipment trade tariffs" is expected to lead to a short-term decline in exports to ASEAN, but increased investment demand from emerging economies and accelerated urbanization may sustain resilience in exports to these markets next year [29] Group 2: Hot Topics - Recent changes in overseas capital behavior indicate a shift back towards the US driven by the second-quarter earnings season, raising questions about the sustainability of global capital rebalancing [15] - The July fiscal data shows a slowdown in debt funding support and an increase in spending related to people's livelihoods and the service industry [23] Group 3: High-Frequency Tracking - The "shadow Fed chairman" has become a clue for the market's "preemptive" interest rate cut trades since early June, raising deeper questions about the Fed's ability to manipulate interest rates and the yield curve [13] - The US core goods CPI for July came in lower than expected, reflecting ongoing economic dynamics [12]

Core Viewpoint - The article discusses the fiscal revenue and expenditure situation in China for the first seven months of 2025, highlighting a slight increase in revenue but a notable decrease in expenditure growth, particularly in government debt support, while spending on people's livelihoods and service sectors is accelerating [2][3][69]. Group 1: Fiscal Revenue and Expenditure Overview - From January to July 2025, the national general public budget revenue reached 135,839 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.1%, while expenditure was 160,737 billion yuan, up 3.4% year-on-year [2][8]. - In July 2025, broad fiscal revenue grew by 3.6% year-on-year, an increase of 0.8 percentage points compared to June, while broad fiscal expenditure rose by 12.1%, a decrease of 5.5 percentage points from June [3][9][70]. - The completion rate of the broad fiscal revenue budget for the first seven months was 56.3%, in line with the average of the past five years, while the expenditure completion rate was 51%, slightly below the average of 51.7% [3][9][70]. Group 2: Changes in Fiscal Support and Spending - The slowdown in broad fiscal expenditure growth may be partly due to the end of large-scale government debt financing support, with a fiscal revenue deficit of 5.6 trillion yuan in July, only increasing by 0.4 trillion yuan from June [3][14][70]. - The National Development and Reform Commission announced that the 1,880 billion yuan investment subsidy for equipment updates supported by long-term special bonds had been fully allocated, indicating a reduction in government debt support for fiscal expenditure [3][14][70]. Group 3: Sector-Specific Spending Trends - Despite the overall decline in broad fiscal expenditure growth, spending related to people's livelihoods and service sectors has accelerated, with health and social security employment expenditures growing by 14.2% and 13.1% respectively, significantly higher than in June [4][20][71]. - Expenditures in cultural tourism, media, and education also saw increases, with growth rates of 7% and 4.6%, respectively, both improving compared to June [4][20][71]. - The structure of fiscal expenditure is expected to become more differentiated, particularly with the implementation of policies such as childcare subsidies and dual interest subsidies [4][26][71].