China's industrial profit growth halved to 4.2% year-on-year in August from 11.2% in July, per National Bureau of Statistics data, while high-tech manufacturing profits surged over 50%. Beijing answered with a targeted lending-rate cut and a mortgage subsidy, not a broad rate cut.
Premier Li Qiang chaired Monday’s State Council meeting that ordered stronger counter-cyclical support to keep 2026 growth in the 4.5–5% range. Source
China's industrial engine lost more than half its speed in a single month, and the policy response that followed says more about Beijing's playbook than the slowdown itself.
