China’s October passenger vehicle sales fall 27.3% year-on-year to 1.653 million

The month-on-month uptick against a steep year-on-year drop points to a market that is stabilizing at a lower level rather than recovering, which matters for the demand narrative around autos and the industrial metals and energy that feed them. The sequential gain is the more informative signal for anyone tracking whether the contraction is bottoming out. Whether that monthly improvement extends into a sustained trend, or proves a seasonal blip, is the open question.