P&G Washes Away Consumer Blues Everywhere but China

Procter & Gamble sees a recovering consumer everywhere but in one market, which just so happens to be the world’s second-largest economy. That is encouraging news for the company itself, but an unsettling message more broadly about the state of China. 

The maker of Tide detergent and Gillette razors on Wednesday said its organic sales, which strip out the impacts of currency movements and mergers, rose 7% from a year earlier in the three months through September. As has been the case in prior quarters, this was entirely thanks to price increases, as underlying volumes fell 1%.