BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s manufacturing sector barely expanded in October and missed expectations, as both domestic and external demand ebbed, in a sign of deepening cracks in the economy from an intensifying trade war with the United States.
The official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), released on Wednesday, fell to 50.2 in October, the lowest since July 2016 and down from 50.8 in September. It was a touch above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction for a 27th straight month.
Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast the official gauge, which gives global investors their first look at business conditions in China at the start of the last quarter of the year, would dip slightly to 50.6 for the month.