China’s weak retails sales add to Beijing’s economic woes

New data signaled a further slowdown in China’s economy. Retail sales were below expectations and a real-estate slump deepened, adding pressure on policymakers whose pledges of fiscal and monetary stimulus to bolster flagging growth in the world’s second-largest economy have been met with skepticism by markets.

The stakes are enormous, and global: Officials have tightened domestic security in response to worries that unemployment and other economic problems such as a heavy debt burden and a flailing property sector could spark social unrest, while the Australian government projected falling tax revenues as a result of lower mining revenues due to reduced demand from China.