China tips into deflation as efforts to stoke recovery falter

News Snapshot:

China’s consumer sector fell into deflation and factory-gate prices extended declines in July, as the world’s second-largest economy struggled to revive demand and pressure mounted on Beijing to release more direct policy stimulus. Anxiety is rising that China is entering an era of much slower economic growth akin to the period of Japan’s “lost decades,” which saw consumer prices and wages stagnate for a generation, a stark contrast to the rapid inflation seen elsewhere. China’s post-pandemic recovery has slowed after a brisk start in the first quarter as demand at home and abroad weakened and a flurry of policies to...