China factory gauge rises with stimulus

China’s official factory gauge showed improving conditions for the first time in eight months, suggesting the government’s fiscal and monetary stimulus may be kicking in. According to Bloomberg, the manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 50.2 in March, compared with a median estimate of 49.4 in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. The measure hasn’t been higher since November 2014. The non-manufacturing PMI rose to 53.8 from 52.7 in February. Top officials at the National People’s Congress last month unveiled a record fiscal deficit and pledged to accelerate restructuring of bloated state-owned industries to meet their 6.5 percent to 7 percent expansion target for this year.