Looks like a mixed bag out of China. I am not quite sure why these two indicators are diverging, but they are. Black box economies are fun (via China Scope Financial):
Source: NBS, ChinaScope Financial (Data)
- The March 2012 NBS manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) was an upbeat 53.1%, 2.1 percentage points higher than in February, and above the 50 demarcation line. Among the five sub-indices, only suppliers’ delivery time fell in March.
- Meanwhile, the final reading of the HSBC March PMI was 48.3, down 1.3 percentage points from February, indicating a downbeat outlook for the economy.
- Related Data: NBS-CFLP PMI and Sub-indices, Comparison between NBS-CFLP PMI and HSBC PMI
New orders increase of 4.1 ppt and production increase of 1.4 ppt helped pull up the March PMI.
The final HSBC reading for March was 48.3, down 1.3 ppt from February and unlike HSBC PMI not indicating any warming up of the economy.
Mr. Roche is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Discipline Funds.Discipline Funds is a low fee financial advisory firm with a focus on helping people be more disciplined with their finances.
He is also the author of Pragmatic Capitalism: What Every Investor Needs to Understand About Money and Finance, Understanding the Modern Monetary System and Understanding Modern Portfolio Construction.
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