Chinese Manufacturing Contracts Again, Services Grow but Slower

A survey says Chinese manufacturing ebbed in January to its lowest in more than three years.

It's the latest sign of weakness for the world's No. 2 economy after it posted its slowest annual growth in a quarter century.

An official survey of factory purchasing managers released Monday fell to 49.4 last month.

The latest reading is lower than December's 49.7 on a 100-point scale on which numbers below 50 indicate contraction.


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Meanwhile, activity in China's service industries also eased off. An official purchasing mangers' index for services slipped to 53.5 in January from 54.4 the month before.

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