China industrial profits increase at slowest pace in a year - BBG

The latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed China's industrial profits in December rose 2.3% y/y, easing sharply from November's growth rate of 14.5%. This reflects that the profits increased at a slowest pace in a year.

Full-year earnings climbed 8.5% to 6.88 trillion yuan, reversing a 2.3% decline in 2015. Annualized profits rose the most in three years, as a construction boom fueled a months-long rally in prices of building materials from steel to cement.