China industrial production slows further

China's March industrial production fell to a new low growth rate, almost back at GFC (2009) levels.  Because Chinese New Year is peripatetic (i.e., sometimes it's in January, sometimes in February), the simple year-on-year % change is very "spiky".  Extreme-adjusting the data produces an altogether smoother and easier to interpret chart.

My guess is that growth is now weak enough that the Chinese govt will be inclined towards stimulus, though there is no doubt that they do not wish to go back to the helter-skelter growth rates of the early noughties because it brought so many problems in its wake (corruption, pollution, property speculation, dodgy loans, overbuilding, etc.)