Investing.com - Profits of China's major industrial firms rose 16.2% in the first eight months of 2018, data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed on Thursday, compared with the 17.1% expansion for the January-July period.
The growth was the slowest pace since March and marked the fourth straight month of slowing growth. Citing Analysts from Capital Economics, Reuters said markets had expected a 15.5% increase for August.
“It is difficult to find an excuse not to blame the trade war,” said Iris Pang, ING economist.
Escalating trade tension with the U.S. were said to be hurting China’s economy. On Wednesday, the country’s Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said Beijing would resume trade talks only if the U.S. show sincerity and not put a knife to China’s throat.
Wang then added that the two sides were set to have four rounds of talks but the U.S. went back on what they had agreed.
His comment came after the U.S. and China imposed fresh tariffs on each other's goods on Monday, although the initial level of the duties was not as high as traders previously expected.
“Looking ahead, we continue to see headwinds to industrial profit growth in the rest of the year, based on our expectation of gradual moderation in industrial production growth, as well as potentially slower [producer price] inflation,” Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) analysts said.