On the heels of disappointing March data in China for Services and Manufacturing, China’s “official” manufacturing PMI saw its lowest ‘April’ print on record (typically a period of renaissance post-New Year data snafus) missing expectations for the first time in 0214 and just marginally above last month’s data. China is still in Schrodinger-land with “official’ data (biased towards larger SOEs) in very modest expansion and Markit (weighted towards smaller – more realistic – entities) in considerable contraction. That China disappointment follows earlier data which saw Aussie PMI collapsed over 3 points in April to its lowest in 9 months with the deterioration broad-based across the key sub-components. As Goldman notes, production is now at its weakest in a year, employment remains in contraction and, most worryingly, new orders printed their largest contraction in 13 months. This is the 6th month in a row of Aussie manufacturing contraction.
This was China’s lowest April Manufacturing PMI print on record…
Missing expectations… for the first time in 2014
But leaving the official data in modest expansion and Markit firmly in contraction…
Aussie PMI at its lowest in 9 months as all the key sub-components collapse…
As Goldman concluded – rather ominously,
…manufacturing conditions remain very challenging despite the considerable monetary policy easing by the RBA. Moreover, with the recent appreciation in the AUD now adding to the headwinds facing this sector, a meaningful recovery in manufacturing sector activity still seems some way away.
Charts: Bloomberg
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1kjZ00M Tyler Durden