China fourth-quarter growth slows to 4.5%, weakest in nearly three years as consumption misses forecasts

China's economic growth decelerated to 4.5% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, marking its slowest pace in nearly three years. This underperformance was primarily driven by weaker-than-expected consumption, signaling ongoing struggles for the world's second-largest economy despite the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. The development arrives against a backdrop of shifting risk appetite, where investors are reassessing exposure to markets and weighing the second-order impact on adjacent sectors. Investors are watching the broader tape for follow-through. Live pricing was not available at the time of writing, but positioning data and order-book signals will shape the next session. Positioning across funds, options skew and credit spreads typically respond first; equity price action lags but tends to confirm the direction once volume returns. Readers should treat the immediate move as a sentiment proxy rather than a final verdict on fundamentals. For longer-horizon allocators the more important question is whether this changes the trajectory of cash flows, regulation or competitive dynamics. If it does, multiple compression or expansion follows; if it does not, the reaction fades within a few sessions and the prior trend reasserts itself. What to watch next: forthcoming earnings prints, central-bank guidance and any official commentary that either validates or pushes back on the market's interpretation. Reported by CNBC and contextualised by the Global Investing News desk under Mark Grundell.