Roaring exports lift China’s economic growth; violent French protests put pressure on euro and bonds – business live

AI desk brief

China’s Q3 GDP rose 4.5% y/y, beating expectations and keeping the economy on track for the government’s 2026 growth target without extra stimulus; industrial production accelerated to 5.5% while retail sales remained weak at 1.1%, and fixed-asset investment stayed soft. The split between strong exports/factory output and weak domestic demand suggests Beijing has less urgency to ease aggressively, but growth remains heavily reliant on external demand.

In Europe, increasingly violent French protests weighed on the euro and lifted French bond yields, with the 10-year OAT up more than 6bp to 4.842% and EUR/USD down 0.2% to $1.1218. The rates/FX impulse is modestly supportive for precious metals through a softer euro and higher sovereign yields, but the signal is mixed overall given the China growth backdrop.