China's economic imbalance deepens as retail sales fall for first time in over three years - Reuters

"The weak retail sales data puts pressure on the government to consider policy measures to stabilize consumption. I still expect policy 'fine tuning' will come in July after second quarter GDP data is released."

— Zhiwei Zhang , Academic

"Several divides characterised the economy in May: the divide between domestic and external demand, the divide between AI and the traditional industries, and the divide between goods retail and services consumption."

— Xu Tianchen , Academic

"For full-year 2026, achieving the growth target of 4.5-5% won't be difficult, but soft domestic demand still warrants policy intervention in the second half."

— Xu Tianchen , Academic

"China still has ample room for investment in future, with new urbanisation, rural revitalisation, the development of 'new quality productive forces' and improvements in public services all requiring support."

— Fu Linghui , Academic

"While there are pockets of strength in tech and export-related industries, the broader economy is still struggling."

— Lynn Song , Executive

"Second-quarter GDP data looks to be weak, but not quite as weak as one would expect from April data."

— Yu Song , Executive

"Some companies are facing difficulties. But looking at the overall trend, the momentum of the economy remains overall stable."

— Fu Linghui , Academic