China Macro Weekly — Episode 1: April Stumble, Trade Truce, and the New Five-Year Plan

China's economy hit turbulence in April with retail sales and industrial output missing forecasts sharply. Meanwhile the PBOC held rates steady but stimulus talk is back; property stress is deepening around Vanke's $11.6 billion rescue; the US-China trade truce is locked in through October 2026; and Beijing just unveiled the 15th Five-Year Plan with embodied AI and brain-computer interfaces as priority industries.