China's Services Sector Has Its Worst Growth In Nearly 2 Years
HSBC China Composite PMI™ data (which covers both manufacturing and services) signalled an expansion of output for the eighth consecutive month in April. However, the HSBC China Composite Output Index signalled only a marginal rate of growth, posting at 51.1. This was down from 53.5 in March, suggesting that the rate of expansion was the weakest since last October. Output rose simultaneously across both the manufacturing and service sectors for the sixth successive month in April. That said, the rates of expansion were only marginal in both cases. The latter was indicated by the HSBC China Services Business Activity Index recording 51.1 in April. Down from 54.3 in March, the services survey headline index signalled the weakest expansion of service sector activity since August 2011.