China’s manufacturing slowed less than economists estimated in July even as smaller businesses were hurt by tighter credit and weakness in export demand.
The Purchasing Managers’ Index was at 50.7 compared with 50.9 in June, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said in a statement in its website today. That exceeded each forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 13 economists. A separate measure released by HSBC Holdings Plc contracted for the first time in a year. |