By Callum Keown

Chinese stocks were given a boost Monday after Beijing outlined a plan to "vigorously boost" consumption and economic data revealing a surprisingly robust start to the year.

While the specter of President Donald Trump's tariffs looms large over China, the world's second-largest economy looks to be showing resilience. Retail sales jumped 4% year-over-year in the first two months of 2025, up from 3.7% in December, while industrial production rose 5.9% beating economists' expectations of a 5.4% increase.

The extensive 30-point plan, announced Sunday, aims to "stimulate domestic demand across the board and increase spending power by raising earnings and reducing financial burdens," the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee said Sunday.

It also includes measures to stabilize the stock market and develop more bond products for individual investors.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.8%, while e-commerce giant JD.com's American depositary receipts (ADRs) jumped 1.1% in U.S. premarket trading. Chinese electric-vehicle maker XPeng's ADRs rose 1.3%, while tech conglomerate Baidu was up 1.1%.

It wasn't quite a broad-based rally, though. Alibaba's ADRs fell 1.4% and Tesla rival Li Auto was down 1.5%.

"While it's clearly encouraging that the economy is showing signs of resilience, gains have been limited, given the expectation that China will suffer the strains of trade wars erupting," Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter said.

Write to Callum Keown at callum.keown@barrons.com

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March 17, 2025 06:19 ET (10:19 GMT)

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