China’s manufacturing sector snapped a more than two-year growth streak in November as contraction at smaller businesses intensified and growth in new orders slowed further.
China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to 50 this month, dead-on the 50-point line between growth and contraction indicating no change from the previous month and coming in below a median forecast of 50.2 from economists surveyed by Reuters.
The no-growth reading for the headline figure was the first time the sector failed to expand since July 2016 and came as a sub-index for new orders dropped to 50.4 and contraction in export orders continued roughly apace from the previous month with a reading of 47.