Caixin PMI data showed a further modest increase in Chinese manufacturing output during April, but the rise represents only another very marginal upturn in production after the record fall suffered in February. Limiting the sector's recovery was a re-intensification of the loss of export sales, which slumped to the greatest extent since 2008 amid worldwide measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 outbreak. Factory employment and purchasing activity both declined, while business confidence about the year ahead dropped to a four-month low, all of which bodes ill for the sector in coming months.
The survey