Chinese services figures suggest economy was stabilising before Donald Trump’s latest trade war threat
- Rise in Caixin/ Markit services business activity index for April highlights economy’s resilience, but US President’s threat to raise tariffs is likely to weigh on exporters
The Chinese service sector remained resilient in April, according to the monthly Caixin/Markit survey released on Monday, a further sign that the Chinese economy was stabilising before Donald Trump’s most recent tariff threat.
On Sunday, the US President tweeted that he would raise tariffs on US$200 billion of Chinese imports on Friday because he was disappointed by the lack of progress in talks to end the trade war.
If implemented, the tariffs are likely to put further downward pressure on the Chinese economy and the threat had an immediate impact on the Chinese stock market.
The Chinese services business activity index, which tracks more than 400 firms monthly, edged up by 0.1 point to 54.5 last month, a three-month high and the second highest since May 2012, Caixin said.
The data presented a more optimistic message than Caixin’s manufacturing purchasing manager index, which dropped by 0.6 points to 50.2 last month.
The official non-manufacturing index published by the National Bureau of Statistics – which includes sentiment from both the services and construction sectors – dropped by 0.3 points to 53.3, while the official manufacturing index fell 0.4 points to 50.1 in April, according to data published last week.