Manufacturing activity

摘要

It was gloom all round as Markit and hsbc released the results of their September purchasing managers'surveys. In the euro area, the Purchasing Managers' Index (pmi), which measures conditions in manufacturing, fell to 50.3, barely above the mark (50.0) that separates growth from recession. Germany's PMI slipped to 49.9, suggesting that outputis shrinking there. Britain's manufacturing sector is still expanding, but more slowly. Its pmi fell from 52.2 in August to a 17-month low of 51.6. China's PMI was unchanged at 50.2. The news is most encouraging in America, where September's PMI was 57.5 and employments manufacturing grew atits fastest pace since March 2012.