China’s factory activity fell back into contractionary territory in April as manufacturers bore the weight of weeks of tit-for-tat tariff increases by the world’s two largest economies.
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The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) reading for April was 49, falling short of the 50.5 reported in March and landing 0.6 percentage points lower than the 49.6 forecast from economists polled by Bloomberg.
A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the manufacturing sector, while one below 50 reflects contraction.
Within the broader PMI reading, the new orders subindex stood at 49.2 in April, down from 51.8 in March. The subindex for new export orders fell to 44.7, compared with 49 in March.
The employment subindex was 47.9, down from 48.2 in March, indicating a decline in factory hiring.
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The subindex for finished goods, which had climbed steadily over the previous three months, dropped to 47.3 from 48 in March.