No surprise there:
PMI data indicated that operating conditions across China’s manufacturing sector were broadly stable at the start of the third quarter. Output was little-changed following a decline in June amid a slight increase in overall new orders. Subdued demand conditions nonetheless prompted firms to lower their workforce numbers again in July, and at a quicker pace, while inventories of both inputs and finished goods declined. Cost pressures weakened, with input prices rising only slightly while selling prices fell. Encouragingly, business confidence regarding the year ahead outlook for output picked up from June’s record low, but remained subdued over lingering concerns regarding the China-US trade dispute and softer global economic conditions.
At 49.9 in July, the headline seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers’ Index™ (PMI™) – a composite indicator designed to provide a single-figure snapshot of operating conditions in the manufacturing economy – posted only fractionally below the neutral 50.0 level to signal broadly stable conditions across China’s manufacturing sector. This followed a marginal deterioration in the health of the sector during June (PMI reading of 49.4).