China HSBC Flash PMI at 9-month low, new export orders sink

China's factory activity in August shrank at its fastest pace in nine months as new export orders slumped and inventories rose, moncler sale cheap signal that a persistent slowdown in economic growth has extended deeper into the third quarter. The HSBC Flash China manufacturing purchasing managers index(PMI) fell to 47.8 in August, its lowest level since November, from 49.5 in July. After hovering for several months just under the 50 mark that divides expansion from contraction, the index is now at levels rarely seen since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. The survey provides an early peek at data for August, as well as an indication that a pick-up in economic growth may moncler sale a not have taken root as anticipated. The new export orders sub-index at 44.7 - the worst showing since March 2009 - provides particularly bearish reading. A sharp drop in China's official producer price index in July, which marked the fifth straight month of producer price deflation, was also reflected in the HSBC survey. It showed a sub-index measuring factory input prices at its lowest level since March moncler outlet 2009. The flash PMI also showed inventories piling up. "Weaker-than-expected sales contributed to a further rise in holdings of finished goods at manufacturers' plants," Markit Economics, which conducted the survey, wrote in a note. The HSBC PMI has been below 50 for 10 straight months, reinforcing calls from**ysts and investors for further measure moncler jackets s from Beijing to support economic growth. China is loathe to unleash a massive stimulus package as it did in 2008. Instead, it has chosen to open more sectors to private capital to help fund new investment projects. "Deeper-than-expected euro area recession and hesitation in domestic policy easing may prolong the destocking process," Citi Asia Economics wrote on Tuesday. The flash PMI is based on 85-90 percent of total PMI survey responses, set to be published in full on Sept 3. EMPLOYMENT HSBC's flash employment sub-index was unchanged moncler coats from June, when it had registered its lowest level since March 2009, the point at which China began to pull out of the trough of the global financial crisis. Falling demand from debt-ridden Europe - China's single biggest export market - has put the Chinese economy under pressure. Government data showed July exports moncler onlinerose just 1 percent from a year earlier and that new loans were at a 10-month low. Factory output rose at its lowest pace in three years and pricing power faded.