China’s manufacturing activity expanded less than forecast in October, a private survey showed, adding to worrying signs about the economy’s momentum as the year winds down.
The RatingDog China General Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index slipped to 50.6 from 51.2 in September, according to a statement released on Monday, staying just above the 50 mark that divides expansion from contraction. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 50.7.
New export orders dropped at the quickest pace since May, the PMI report showed, with goods producers turning the least optimistic in six months. A long national holiday in October might have exaggerated the extent of the slowdown.
“Heightened trade uncertainty in October caused new export orders to fall sharply into contraction territory,” Yao Yu, founder at RatingDog, said in the statement. “On the production side, uncertainty in the external environment also dampened output growth.”
Tensions between the world’s largest economies escalated in October over export controls — a standoff that was at least temporarily defused with a deal reached last week between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
