China's economy faces mixed signals in May, highlighting need for further support.

China's economy slowed down in May with industrial output and retail sales growth missing forecasts, adding to expectations that Beijing will need to do more to shore up a shaky post-pandemic recovery. The soft run of data has defied analyst expectations for a sharper pickup, given comparisons with last year's very weak performance, when many cities were under strict COVID lockdowns. The figures also reinforce the case for more stimulus as China faces deflationary risks, mounting local government debts, record youth unemployment, and weakening global demand.