Manufacturing activity strengthened significantly in China and India in November, underlining a widening gap between two of Asia’s largest economies and the rest of the region.
Purchasing managers’ survey data published on Wednesday suggest that Asia is dividing into two economic camps as growth steams ahead in China and India, but weakens or remains relatively flat in Japan and much of emerging Asia.
The picture in Europe is also divided between “peripheral” countries such as Spain and Greece, which are carrying out drastic austerity programmes, and the UK, France and Germany, whose recoveries are accelerating. In the US, growth is recovering after a summer soft patch, but manufacturing activity appears muted.