China Dec Manufacturing PMI 49.0 (vs. 49.5 expected) & Services 50.4 (50.5 expected)

<p>China's Manufacturing PMI from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for December has come in at its third straight month of contraction at 49.0, much worse than was expected</p><ul><li>from 49.5 expected and 49.4 in November</li></ul><p>Services at 50.4, a slight miss</p><ul><li>50.5 expected and 50.2 in November</li></ul><p>Composite is 50.3, from 50.4 in November.</p><p>The private Caixin factory survey will be issued on Tuesday:</p><p>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&amp;P Global.</p><ul><li>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.</li><li>Another difference between the two surveys is their methodology. The Caixin PMI survey uses a broader sample of companies than the official survey.</li><li>Despite these differences, the two surveys often provide similar readings on China's manufacturing sector.</li></ul><p>During last week were comments from the head of the NDRC:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.forexlive.com/news/chinas-state-planner-on-measures-to-expand-domestic-demand-promote-stable-growth-20231227/" target="_blank" rel="follow">China's 'state planner' on measures to expand domestic demand, promote stable growth</a></li></ul><ul><li>As I said in that post, efforts at boosting the economy appear to be getting some pay off:</li><li><a href="https://www.forexlive.com/news/chinas-november-industrial-profits-rebound-with-295-yy-growth-20231227/" target="_blank" data-article-link="true">China's November Industrial Profits rebound with 29.5% y/y Growth</a></li></ul><p>–</p><p>ps. Here's an interesting piece from Reuters for some holiday reading:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/how-china-talked-markets-out-run-yuan-2023-12-30/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">How China talked markets out of a run on the yuan</a></li></ul>

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.