China flash manufacturing PMI drops

China’s manufacturing sector contracted for the first time in six months in January according to a flash HSBC index on Thursday, Agence France-Press reported. HSBC’s preliminary reading of China’s purchasing managers’ index, which tracks manufacturing activity in factories and workshops, fell to 49.6 in January, the lowest since August. A reading below 50 signals contraction. Qu Hongbin, the bank’s economist in Hong Kong, said in a statement accompanying the data that the contraction results mainly from cooling domestic demand and implies softening growth momentum for Chinese manufacturing.