China's main growth engines falter in Oct as trade war with US continues

Disappointing numbers show China off to a rough start in the final three months of 2019.

China's factory output growth slowed significantly more than expected in October, as weakness in global and domestic demand and the drawn-out Sino-U.S. trade war weighed on broad segments of the world's second-largest economy.

Industrial production rose 4.7 per cent year-on-year in October, data from the National Bureau of Statistics released on Thursday showed, below the median forecast of 5.4 per cent growth in a Reuters poll and slower than September's 5.8 per cent.

Indicators showed other sectors also slowed significantly and missed forecasts with retail sales growth back near a 16-year trough and fixed asset investment growth the weakest on record.

The disappointing