Chinese retail sales increased 0.17% MoM and 3.4% YoY in August, down from 3.7% YoY in July and below expectations of an increase of 3.8% YoY.

• Retail sales (ex autos) were up 3.7% YoY, slowing from the 4.3% YoY increase in the previous month.
• Sales growth was consistently positive across segments with only three segments seeing declines: petroleum products (-8.0% YoY), tobacco (-2.3% YoY), and building materials (-0.7% YoY).
• Food, grain & oil sales were up 5.8% YoY, slowing significantly from 8.6% YoY previously.
• Sales of communication equipment like phones also slowed, from 14.9% YoY in July to 7.3% YoY.

• Sales growth for both discretionary and non-discretionary segments slowed with the former decelerating to 8.1% YoY (down from 8.4% YoY) and the latter decelerating to 3.1% YoY (down from 4.2% YoY).