China’s consumer market continues to show significant weakness.  As we reported earlier, retail sales rose year-on-year by 2.5% in September but inflation rose year-on-year by 2.8%.  It was concerning that September’s data showed Chinese consumers were suddenly not buying more goods, and instead were just paying more.  October’s data has shown even greater weakness.  Inflation rose year-on-year by 2.1% last month, while retail sales contracted year-on-year by 0.5%.  Furniture sales in China have now contracted for fifteen straight months, clothing sales have returned to contraction, and appliance sales (which includes consumer electronics) contracted last month by the largest amount seen since April 2020.