China's October Caixin Manufacturing PMI comes in, back in contraction, at 49.5
- 50.8 expected, prior was 50.6
From the report, in brief:
- first contraction since July
- slower growth in overall sales
- weak foreign demand
- new export orders shrunk for four consecutive months
- weaker-than-expected sales and the delayed shipment of goods led to the strongest rise in inventories of post-production items since September 2015
- manufacturers trimmed staffing levels for the second straight month, the rate of job shedding the quickest since May
- higher prices for raw materials and oil, pushed the rate of input inflation ticked up to nine-month high
---
China has two primary Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) surveys - the official PMI released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Caixin China PMI published by the media company Caixin and research firm Markit / S&P Global.
We got the official from the NBS yesterday:
- The official PMI survey covers large and state-owned companies, while the Caixin PMI survey covers small and medium-sized enterprises. As a result, the Caixin PMI is considered to be a more reliable indicator of the performance of China's private sector.
- Another difference between the two surveys is their methodology. The Caixin PMI survey uses a broader sample of companies than the official survey.
- Despite these differences, the two surveys often provide similar readings on China's manufacturing sector.
