China's PMI slows in May

China’s official purchasing managers’ index dipped to 52 in May from 52.9 in April, marking the country’s slowest pace of manufacturing expansion in nine months, Bloomberg reported. A PMI reading above 50 indicates an expansion. However, economists say that the manufacturing index has a seasonal pattern of falling in May. The data issued by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing on Wednesday comes amid the government’s ongoing campaign to cool inflation and the property market. “Chinese economic growth is cresting,” Yao Wei, a Hong Kong-based economist with Societe Generale SA, said. The economy appears to be cooling, with weaker gains in industrial production. Car sales dipped in April and the government is raising industrial power prices in 15 provinces starting Wednesday.