China's industrial profits continued to decline in July 2025, falling 1.5% year-on-year, marking the third consecutive month of decline amid deflationary pressures and weak demand. However, the contraction was less severe than the previous month's 4.3% drop, supported by strong earnings in the high-tech manufacturing sector, which saw an 18.9% year-on-year profit increase. Policy measures, including a crackdown on price wars, have helped ease the profit slump. Meanwhile, China's largest life insurer, China Life, reported a 6.9% rise in net income to 40.93 billion yuan in the first half of 2025, driven by expanded policy sales and improved investment returns despite a volatile stock market. Ping An Insurance, another major insurer, plans to increase its equity investments cautiously amid concerns about the Chinese economy. Additionally, the government has encouraged companies to target older consumers as a strategy to bolster consumption. In the real estate sector, mortgage lending in Spain showed a slowdown in growth, with total mortgage lending rising 45.7% year-on-year in June, down from 48.8% previously, and house mortgage approvals increasing 31.7%, a decrease from 54.4%. In China, mortgage signings reached their highest first-half level since 2011, with a 25% year-on-year increase in the first half of 2025, reflecting a recovery in the housing market.