Econintersect: The HSBC/Markit Flash (preliminary) PMI (Purchasing Manager's Index) has improved to 49.7 for May 2014. This is below the value
of 50 which marks the boundary between Expansion and contraction, but it is significantly improve from the April reading of 48.1. Key areas of the report came in above 50 for the first time in several months: new orders, new export business and production. The headline for the press release was "Operating conditions deteriorate at weakest pace in five months". This report was not really good news overall, but simply just less bad news with some good components.
The summary of the PMI and components are given in the following table:
The recent history of PMI and key components:
Hongbin Qu, Chief Economist, China and co-head of Economic Research at HSBC was encouraged by the report, except for disappointment with a continued weak employment number:
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