Independent manufacturing survey points to continued contraction in December

The Caixin/Markit manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) for December fell 0.4 points from November to 48.2, the gauge’s tenth straight month below the 50-point mark delineating industry contraction from expansion, The Financial Times reported. The dip follows two months of improvement, but the figure has not seen improvement continue for more than a quarter since July of 2014. The independent survey results – based on a smaller sampling of private firms than its official counterpart – was well below the National Bureau of Statistics’ own manufacturing PMI reading of 49.7 for December, which had marked a slight improvement from November even as it remained in contractionary territory.