Chinese Service Sector Outpaces Growth in December

January 6, 2015 Share Print 0

China’s services sector grew at its fastest pace in three months in December as new orders remained strong, a private survey showed, an encouraging sign of strength even as manufacturing activity slows and the property market softens.

The HSBC/Markit Services Purchasing Managers’ Index(PMI) picked up to 53.4 last month from November’s 53.0, well above the 50-point level that separates growth from contraction in activity on a monthly basis.

A sub-index measuring new business cooled slightly to 53.9 in December from a 2-1/2 years high of 54.2 in November, but remained well in expansion territory.

The labor market was also buoyant. The employment sub-index hit a 18-month high in December as companies expanded. Chinese leaders suggested last year they could tolerate somewhat slower economic growth as long as labor markets remained resilient.

But services firms were not so optimistic on the outlook. A sub-index for business expectations for the year ahead dipped to the lowest level since August 2014, with many firms saying increasing competition was dampening their pricing power.

via CNBC

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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.