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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DebtBomb who wrote (188163)	3/4/2009 7:01:45 AM
From: Think4Yourself	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 306849

China's Feb official PMI edges towards recovery By Simon Rabinovitch reuters.com BEIJING, March 4 (Reuters) - A key gauge of Chinese manufacturing improved in February for the third month in a row as factories restocked in anticipation of an early revival in the economy despite deepening global gloom. The official purchasing managers' index remained below the no-change line of 50 that marks the difference between expansion and contraction for the fifth month in a row. But it is now well clear of a record low of 38.8 plumbed in November. Economists said the rise in the gauge to 49.0 from 45.3 in January, was encouraging but cautioned that it was too early to be confident about a marked pick-up in final demand. "The continuous improvement in the PMI over the past three months is certainly positive news," Yu Song and Helen Qiao, economists at Goldman Sachs, said in a note to clients. "The February reading in particular is suggesting manufacturing activities are getting back close to expansionary territory," they said. The index bottomed out after Beijing announced 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) in stimulus spending in November to make up for a collapse in Chinese exports and a downturn in the domestic property sector. Shanghai stocks .SSEC jumped 6.1 percent on speculation that Premier Wen Jiabao could announce even more spending when he addresses parliament on Thursday. [ID:nSHA30667] A planning official said China would direct extra money at infrastructure, manufacturing and the social safety net. [ID:nBJC000263] As things stand, the pace of government spending could slow this year. Outlays will rise 22 percent to 7.6 trillion yuan ($1.11 trillion), according to Reuters calculations based on China's military budget, announced on Wednesday. That would be down from last year's 25.4 percent clip. [ID:nPEK22700] GLIMMER OF HOPE Every sub-index in the official PMI, released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP), rose in February. Output and new orders climbed to 51.2 and 50.4, respectively, both returning to mild growth after shrinking for four months. "China's economy is possibly on the road to a sustainable recovery," said Zhang Liqun, a government economist who comments on the survey for the logistics federation. "Policies are beginning to show their effectiveness, supporting quite fast economic growth," he said. Continued...