China's GDP And Infrastructure Spending Supports Construction Equipment And Raw Materials

From the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics (www.china.org.cn/business/2012-01/17/content_24426253.htm)

Chinese economy grew by 9.2 percent in 2011 from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Tuesday.

GDP growth for the fourth quarter last year stood at 8.9 percent year on year, said the NBS. The quarterly growth was the slowest in 10 quarters. China has set the full-year growth target at 8 percent in early 2011, after its economy grew 10.3 percent in 2010.

The country's economy expanded 2 percent in the fourth quarter on a quarterly basis, NBS chief Ma Jiantang said at a press conference.

According to preliminary statistics, the country's GDP reached 47.16 trillion yuan (7.26 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2011, Ma said.

Impressive numbers given the situation in the rest of the world. Q4 growth managed to beat estimates of 8.7%.  The release goes on to say:

NBS data showed China's industrial value-added output growth decelerated in 2011 from a year earlier to 13.9 percent year-on-year. The country's fixed-asset investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, rose 23.8 percent year-on-year. Retail sales, a key indicator of consumer spending, rose 18.1 percent year-on-year in December 2011, up from the 17.3-percent growth seen in November.

The infrastructure spending continues on a torrid pace and should continue to support construction equipment and raw materials/mining. I would expect metal/mining and equipment stocks to perform well today as participants focus on this news (as well as German investor sentiment) rather than the looming default of Greece.
On Monday, China's top statistical official Ma Jiantang stated that price increase pressures continue to pose a threat despite the lower 4.1% CPI in December.

In the short run, fixed-asset investment, which remains a major engine driving economic growth in China, is expected to maintain rapid growth in 2012, while residential consumption, another growth engine, will keep stable growth this year, he said.

www.china.org.cn/business/2012-01/17/content_24425203.htm
This continues to support the prospects of both resource economies and companies.