China Manufacturing Expands

China’s manufacturing expanded for the first time in 13 months in November in a further sign that the world’s No. 2 economy is recovering from its deepest slump since the 2008 global crisis.

HSBC Corp. said Thursday that its monthly Purchasing Managers’ Index improved to 50.4 for November on a 100-point scale on which numbers over 50 indicate expansion. That was a moderate improvement from October’s 49.5. It is the first time in 13 months that the reading has been above 50.

The PMI index measures overall manufacturing activity by surveying numerous indicators including orders, employment and actual production.

The Chinese numbers are rare good news for the world economy, which has slowed as Europe’s chronic debt crisis worsened and the American economy stagnated. Benchmark stock indexes in Hong Kong, Japan, Britain and Germany posted gains, and crude oil prices moved up.

via The Globe and Mail

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza