More China worries today as the Caixin PMI confirms the construction economy is going nowhere. Goldman:
1. The Caixin China General Services Business Activity Index (headline services PMI)fell to 51.8 in August from 54.1 in July, suggesting the activity in services sector continued to improve but at a significantly slower pace. Surveyed companies indicated that the slowdown in business activity was related to a weaker increase in overall new business.2. The new business index declined to 52.5 in August (vs. 53.1 in July) while the outstanding business index edged up to 51.4 in August (vs. 51.2 in July). The new export orders sub-index fell to 49.2 in August from 51.0 in July, the first time dropping below 50 this year. The employment sub-index edged down to 52.1 (vs.52.2 in July).
I am a little surprised that Country Garden bothered to pay its dollar-bond:
The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers
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.
