China just released its report on economic growth for the first quarter of 2019 and it came in better than expected. According to that data, the GDP grew by 6.4%, a positive surprise that was further increased by growing industrial production and customer demand, which overall indicates the economy of China is in a better shape in 2019 than investors previously supposed.
This news helped reassure the financial markets as a whole, since China is a central issue in the value of many trading instruments. Last year the prospects of an economic slowdown in China, additionally exacerbated by the trade war with the United States, pushed markets worldwide towards shrinking, drove oil and stock prices down, and hurt all currencies except for safety assets like the dollar and the Japanese yen.
In contrast, with this week’s positive fundamentals and the prospects of a trade agreement between China and the US, the financial markets can take a breather. Thanks to this news we are seeing a slight weakening in the USD, while the Australian dollar, the Chinese yuan, and the euro are doing better, as are Asian stocks.
