China’s foreign services trade continued to post double-digit growth in the first nine months of the year amid government supportive measures. The services trade rose 21.4% year-on-year to CNY3.8 trillion in the January-September period, accounting for 18% of total foreign trade, compared with 15.4% for 2015, said Ministry of Commerce Spokesperson Sun Jiwen. China’s services trade has seen double-digit growth since the beginning of the year as the government pushes the industry to upgrade the economic structure and increase employment. The services sector now accounts for more than half of the national economy. In the first nine months, service imports jumped 29.1% year-on-year, driven by growth in overseas travel services, while exports climbed 8.7%, Sun said. The country saw a service trade deficit of CNY1.2 trillion in the period, up CNY295 billion from a year earlier. Exports of high value-added services posted rapid growth, with technology rising 18.4% year-on-year. China’s foreign services trade volume grew from USD362.4 billion in 2011 to USD713 billion in 2015, doubling the average international growth rate. The country has set a target to increase its service trade to more than USD1 trillion by 2020, the Shanghai Daily reports.

China’s economy showed more signs of stabilizing in October, but disappointing retail sales growth clouded the outlook. In the first 10 months, fixed-asset investment (FAI) rose 8.3% year-on-year, slightly ahead of market expectations. Investment by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) surged 20.5%. The growth of private investment picked up to 2.9% from 2.5% in the January-September period. Private investment accounts for about 60% of overall investment in China.The increased FAI was buoyed by infrastructure projects and was a reflection of “improving demand and strengthening internal growth engine,” Mao Shengyong, Spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said. But growth in retail sales in October cooled to a five-month low of 10% from 10.7% in September, missing analysts’ hopes for a steady growth. “The main reason is the high level of comparison with last year,” Mao said, adding that booming car sales due to preferential tax policies pushed higher the figure of October last year. But “consumption can maintain stable growth. There should not be a problem achieving this year’s GDP growth targets,” Mao added. October’s industrial output also missed expectations, rising 6.1% to match the same pace as in September. Bank lending also slowed sharply last month, suggesting that demand for mortgages was cooling after a series of measures imposed by over 20 local governments in October. These measures slowed the growth in housing sales to 26% year-on-year in October from 35% in September, the Shanghai Daily reports.

Major Chinese home appliances and air conditioner maker Gree Electric Appliances has suspended a plan to buy Zhuhai Yinlong New Energy Co, after failing to win approval from the electric vehicle maker’s shareholders. Gree, based in Zhuhai of Guangdong province, announced in early August it would buy all the shares of the new-energy vehicle manufacturer for CNY13 billion in a strategic move aimed at diversifying its businesses. The termination of the acquisition plan would not have a negative effect on its major business, the home appliances maker said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The Shenzhen-listed company resumed trading on November 17, after a suspension since February, with its shares rising 1.96% as of the close in trading. Zhuhai Yinlong sold more than 7,000 new vehicles in 2015, with its production value reaching more than CNY10 billion, according to the company. Gree said in a statement that it would continue to look for more opportunities for business growth.

The property markets in China’s first- and second-tier cities saw signs of a cooling last month, with a notable slowdown in price growth for both new and pre-owned homes. Average new home prices in October rose 0.5% from a month earlier in first-tier cities and 1.3% in second-tier cities, compared with 3.3% and 2.3% in September. In the existing home market, prices climbed an average 0.6% compared with 3.5% in September in first-tier markets, and 0.8% in second-tier markets, down from 2.9%. Since late September, 22 cities across the country have introduced restrictions, including limits on the number of properties people could buy and increases in the downpayment required, in a bid to combat soaring prices which could harm overall economic development. The latest turnaround in the housing market should last for at least six to nine months, according to Centaline Property. Buying sentiment in the 22 cities that have tightened rules plunged about 40% on average in October from a month earlier. Last month, Shenzhen was the only one of the four gateway cities that saw prices actually fall – down 0.5% for new and existing properties compared with September gains of 1.9% and 1.8%. The other gateway cities – Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou – all registered slower growth of 0.3%, 0.2% and 0.8%, respectively, the Shanghai Daily reports.

PizzaExpress, the British restaurant chain acquired by Legend Holdings’ private equity unit Hony Capital, plans to boost its number of stores in China 10 times to more than 200 within five years as larger rival Pizza Hut has hit a roadblock in China. PizzaExpress Chairman Wang Jinlong vowed to target the premium end of the casual dining market where Western dining among Chinese millennials has become prevalent, with an ongoing nationwide branding revamp and the launch of a “fast casual” brand. The vision was laid out two years into Hony’s GBP900 million buyout of the London-based operator of 589 PizzaExpress restaurants worldwide, more than 80% of which are currently in Britain and Ireland. The expansion is poised to make PizzaExpress, a favorite among the British middle class but less-known among Chinese diners with only 29 outlets, one of the biggest upscale Western fast-food restaurant chains in China in the years to come. “A first step we are taking to bolster our high-end appeal is to rebrand PizzaExpress as PizzaMarzano and replace the characters in our Chinese name with those delivering a classier meaning,” said Wang, who is also the Chief Executive of PizzaExpress’ China unit. The expansion comes despite the lackluster performance by Yum China’s Pizza Hut chain, which has been plagued by a waning appetite among Chinese consumers and a food safety scandal that tarnished the brand’s image in 2014. The struggling pizza maker, with hundreds of stores in China, was recently spun off by its U.S. parent Yum Brands, the South China Morning Post reports.