China manufacturing now pretty clearly in contraction

1 Jun 2012 by Jim Fickett.

Today both the Chinese government and HSBC reported their separate PMIs. The government version fell to 50.4, essentially the 50.0 dividing line between expansion and contraction. The HSBC version fell again to 48.4, well into the zone of contraction. Taking the two together, it seems pretty clear that China manufacturing is now in contraction.

(See the Reference page China PMI for background, past commentary, and sources.)