18.05.202603:01:12UTC+00China 10Y Yield Returns to 3-Week Low

China’s 10-year government bond yield slipped to around 1.75% on Monday, returning to its lowest level in nearly three weeks, even in the face of a series of weaker-than-expected economic indicators. The country’s housing market remained under pressure, with new home prices in 70 major cities falling 3.5% year-on-year in April 2026, the sharpest decline since May 2025. Fixed-asset investment also contracted, down 1.6% year-on-year in the January–April period, as the property sector continued to act as the principal drag on overall investment activity. More broadly, industrial production growth slowed to 4.1% in April, its weakest pace since July 2023, as the conflict in the Middle East weighed on manufacturing and exports. Retail sales growth decelerated sharply as well, edging up just 0.2% year-on-year and underscoring subdued domestic consumption. On the labor front, the surveyed urban unemployment rate inched down to 5.2% in April from 5.4% in March—its lowest reading since January, after having reached a more than one-year high the previous month.