China's manufacturing PMI falls again in August

China’s manufacturing activity contracted in August, but slower than expected. The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) by the National Bureau of Statistics fell for a fifth straight month, with the country’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) at 49.7 in August. That was a smaller decline compared with the 49.4 expected by economists and the 49.3 in July. The non-manufacturing PMI weakened for a fifth straight month to 51.0 from 51.5 in July, while the composite PMI rose for the first time in four months to 51.3.