China's retail sales beat expectations in May, climbing 3.7% compared with a year ago, beating expectations of a 3% rise from a Reuters poll of economists. However, other economic metrics, such as industrial output and fixed asset investment, missed Reuters forecasts. Industrial output grew by 5.6% year-on-year, compared to the 6% increase expected, while fixed asset investment rose 4% compared to last May, just shy of the 4.2% forecast by the Reuters poll. On the other hand, the miss in fixed asset investment was dragged by a steeper drop in real estate investment. NBS said that excluding real estate, total fixed asset investment was 8.6% higher compared to last May.

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Organizations: Reuters, National Bureau, Statistics, NBS Locations: Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China