China's private firm profits up 15.6% in July

Over the past seven months, China's State-own firms churned out profits of 14.3 trillion yuan, up 5.4 percent on last year. But profits from private firms grew even faster, in July. Profits produced by private firms reached 17.6 trillion yuan, a rise of 16 percent.

Foreign companies also generated better-than-expected profits in July, of 13.3 trillion yuan, up 8.2 percent. Experts predict the profit level for those companies will rise further in the second half of the year.