From HSBC the China services PMI up 0.6 points to 52.9:
The latest set of PMI data indicated that Chinese service sector companies had a strong start to Q2, with activity and new orders both rising solidly in April. However, a downturn in manufacturing operating conditions led to a weaker expansion of overall business activity in April, with composite output rising at the slowest rate in three months.
Furthermore, sustained job shedding at manufacturing firms offset a modest rise in service sector staff numbers, leading total employment to fall for the second month in a row.
This suggests that, despite recent stimulus measures, such as cuts to banks’ reserve ratios and lending/deposit rates, more measures may be required to ensure the economy does not slow further from the 7% annual pace of growth registered in Q1.
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
