Overview
- Factory activity contracted for a seventh straight month, with the official manufacturing PMI dropping to 49.0, a six-month low.
- The reading missed a Reuters poll forecast of 49.6 and stayed below the 50 threshold that separates growth from contraction.
- Non-manufacturing activity in services and construction inched higher, with the PMI edging up to 50.1.
- Exporters are increasingly selling at a loss in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa as price competition intensifies.
- Policymakers have signaled support for consumption, though analysts question whether fresh measures will again favor state-owned firms despite recent hard-data gains skewed by them.