Has China’s Economy Really Turned the Corner? Looking Behind the Latest Economic Numbers Data from the first few months of this year suggested that the Chinese economy might at long last be starting to pull out of its prolonged post-Covid funk. These green shoots include the producer price index (PPI) moving back into positive territory, a strong rebound in corporate profits, and possible bottoming out of the years-long property slump. However, closer scrutiny of those numbers, along with more recent ones, points to continued strong headwinds facing the world’s second largest economy. The PPI shot up 2.8% in April and 3.9% in May over the same time last year, after ticking up 0.5% in March over the same time last year. These increases reversed a 41-month streak of negative PPI readings. The consumer price index (CPI) also rose, albeit much more modestly, going up by 1.2% in April and May over the same times last year. The recent jum...