5月经济数据点评：为何消费与生产背离？

Consumption - In May, the retail sales growth rate reached 6.4%, exceeding expectations of 4.9% and the previous value of 5.1%[8] - The increase in retail sales was driven by e-commerce promotions and an additional 2 days of holidays compared to last year, leading to concentrated demand release[2] - Significant improvements were noted in household appliances (+14.2 percentage points to 53.0%) and communication equipment (+13.1 percentage points to 33.0%) sales[9] Investment - Fixed asset investment growth slowed to 3.7%, below the expected 4%, with a monthly decline of 0.7 percentage points to 2.8%[8] - The decline in investment was primarily due to the end of the equipment renewal cycle and a drop in traditional infrastructure and real estate investments[3] - Real estate investment fell by 10.7%, slightly worse than the expected decline of 10.5%[8] Production - Industrial value-added growth in May was 5.8%, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from April[25] - Manufacturing production saw a significant decline, down 0.4 percentage points to 6.2%, influenced by fewer working days in May compared to last year[25] - The decline in production was exacerbated by weak real estate and export sectors, particularly affecting transportation equipment and electrical machinery[25]