- Comes in right on consensus expectations, and unchanged from the flash reading earlier
- A 3-month low, but still in expanison
- ‘flash’ was 50.5
- prior was 50.8
- Output and new order components increased, but at weaker rates
- New export orders decline – for the first time since August 2013
- A second consecutive month for employment decline
Hongbin Qu, Chief Economist, China & Co-Head of Asian Economic Research at HSBC said:
“The moderation of December’s final HSBC China Manufacturing PMI was mainly due to slower output growth. However, the final PMI sustained the fifth above-50 reading in a row thanks to a steady increase of new orders. The recovering momentum since August 2013 is continuing into 2014, in our view. With inflation still benign, we expect the current monetary and fiscal policy to remain in place to support growth.”
Yesterday’s official manufacturing PMI for December recorded a fall from November
