Today’s Economic Shakers

China reports growth at fastest clip since Q-3 2015…

China’s National Bureau of Statistics published its latest economic data on Monday, and the numbers showed that the world’s second largest economy continues to grow at a rapid clip.

According to the Chinese government data, that nation’s economy grew at a rate of 6.9%, which came in just above expectations of economists, based on the latest Wall Street Journal survey that had pegged the consensus forecasts at 6.8%.

The data showed that China’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had grown at the fastest rate since Q-3 2015, a period covering the last 6 quarters.

The sharp gains in China’s GDP was the result of multiple factors, including a big boost in that nation’s infrastructure spending by the government.

Additionally, the country’s red-hot real estate boom continues to contribute disproportionally to China’s GDP, despite efforts from Beijing to cool down a sector that has seen speculators drive the housing market to inflated highs.

However, the government data also shows that the sharp rate of growth came from sectors across the board, including gains in both retail sales and exports.

China’s surge in its GDP left the most recent quarter above the government’s target for growth, which had been set at 6.5%.

The report from the Chinese government does show, however, that the gains in the GDP continue to be powered by the increase in credit, as the nation’s debt has ballooned from 125% back in 2008 all the way up to the current level of 277%.

Economists also point out that the current rate of growth may not be sustainable, as the growth in credit that is powering the GDP gains could result in a financial crisis for the country should the credit bubble burst.

China’s government has been trying to cool down the credit market by tightening lending restrictions on its banks, but that monetary move has had limited success to date.

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Crude prices rebound following early morning losses…

The price of oil recovered during the course of early morning trading as the boost in the number of U.S. rigs was offset by a drop in the dollar.

An industry report released earlier in the day showed that the US once again saw a bump in the total number of oil rigs across the country, which continues a recent trend that has seen the longest stretch of gains in the rig count in about 6 years.

The news initially contributed to driving crude prices down by about 1% before reversing course and recovering most of the losses.

The reversal came in response to a drop in the dollar, which has now dropped to its lowest level in about 3 weeks.

The weaker dollar may be partially attributed to last week’s government inflation data, which showed that prices had fallen following the previous week’s gain.

The price of crude was also supported by news that OPEC’s members are leaning towards extending the current period of production cuts that have been in place for the last several months.

Crude prices remained slightly down prior to Wall Street’s opening bell, with the near-month contract for the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate falling to $53.15 per.

Meanwhile, the global benchmark Brent crude was down slightly, as the June contract fell to $55.87.