China's consumer market shows continued recovery

China's consumer spending has continued to gain traction with faster sales growth and improving consumer sentiment thanks to favorable government policies.

The latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that in October, driven by the national trade-in program, household appliances and audio-visual equipment reported a 39.2 percent surge in combined sales compared to a year earlier. Furniture and automobiles also saw increases of 7.4 percent and 3.7 percent in sales, respectively.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, early November saw sales at key retailers enterprises of household appliances and communication equipment rising by 45 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

By November 11, nearly 21.61 million consumers had purchased around 32.72 million units of eight categories of home appliances and, by midnight on Tuesday, the number of applications for automobile scrapping and renewal subsidies nationwide had passed four million.

In the first 10 months, retail sales at convenience stores grew by 4.7 percent year on year, and retail sales at membership-only warehouse clubs maintained double-digit growth.

Meanwhile, spending on services continued its rapid growth, while the cultural and tourism markets also continued to heat up.

From January to October, service retail sales increased by 6.5 percent on a yearly basis, 3.3 percentage points higher than the retail sales of goods in the same period. Among them, the retail sales of transportation and communication information services maintained double-digit growth.

"As the efforts to support the trade-in programs in consumer goods continue to be implemented in detail, a package of incremental policies focusing on expanding domestic demand is being formulated and implemented at a faster pace. With consumer confidence on the rise and the traditional peak season for consumption in the fourth quarter adding to the momentum, we anticipate that the consumption of bulk commodities and services will continue to expand, and the overall consumer consumption will continue to maintain a recovery trend," said Li Ziwen, an associate researcher of the institute of industrial economics and technological economics under the National Development and Reform Commission.

China's consumer market shows continued recovery

China's consumer market shows continued recovery

The White House Office of Management and Budget released its 2027 budget proposal on Friday, which would raise U.S. defense spending to 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars while reducing funding for domestic programs.

The budget plan "builds on the president's vision by continuing to constrain non-defense spending and reform the federal government," according to a document published on the White House website.

At a White House event on Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump highlighted the defense spending as a priority, noting that domestic responsibilities such as health care should be shifted to the states.

"We're fighting wars. We can't take care of day care. You got to let a state take care of day care, and they should pay for it, too," Trump said.

Aside from cuts to health programs, the White House budget proposal also includes cuts to refugee resettlement aid, renewable energy projects, university grants and housing programs, among others.

The president's annual budget is often seen as a reflection of the administration's priorities, though Congress ultimately holds the authority over federal spending.

The release of the White House 2027 budget proposal came as Congress remains deadlocked over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, with Democrats pushing for immigration enforcement reforms that Republicans refuse to accept. This led to a partial government shutdown that has stretched on for nearly seven weeks.

White House seeks 1.5 trillion USD in defense spending in 2027 budget proposal