I don’t bother reporting the final HSBC PMI for China given the Flash is usually accurate. But it’s noteworthy when they diverge and that’s happened this month with the final result weakening 3 points over the past fortnight. From Hongbin Qu, Chief Economist, China & Co-Head of Asian Economic Research at HSBC said:
“The final reading of the HSBC China Manufacturing PMI stabilised at 48.1 in April, up slightly from 48.0 in March, and revised down from an earlier flash reading of 48.3. The latest data implied that domestic demand contracted at a slower pace, but remained sluggish. Meanwhile, both the new export orders and employment sub-indices contracted, and were revised down from the earlier flash readings. These indicate that the manufacturing sector, and the broader economy as a whole, continues to lose momentum. Over the past few days, Beijing has introduced more reform measures which could support growth by inducing more private sector investment. We think bolder actions will be required to ensure the economy regains its momentum.”
Western banks really should give up this ignominious begging for stimulus. China is slowing, get over it:
The importance of this today is that it underlines that although data has stabilised, there’s no obvious snap-back brewing. We can expect Chinese growth to underwhelm all year.
