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Investing.com-- China’s services activity missed expectations in January, private purchasing managers’ index data showed on Wednesday, as local business activity took only fleeting support from recent stimulus measures.
The Caixin services PMI read 51 in January, missing expectations of 52.3. The reading also slowed from the 52.2 seen in the prior month.
The softer services print was driven chiefly by slower growth in new business, as activity cooled from highs seen during the year-end holidays. While the recent Lunar New Year holiday is expected to have spurred some growth, this will only be reflected in February’s reading.
While services activity has remained in expansion since January 2023, its pace of growth has steadily declined in recent months, amid weak consumer spending.
Wednesday’s data came after manufacturing PMIs also largely missed expectations for January, indicating broad-based weakness in Chinese business activity. The reading showed that support from a slew of aggressive stimulus measures from Beijing, through late-2024, provided only fleeting support to the economy.
This underscored the need for more economic support from Beijing, especially in the face of U.S. trade tariffs under President Donald Trump. Trump’s proposed 10% duty on Chinese imports took effect on Tuesday.
Beijing is expected to ramp up its stimulus measures to offset the impact of U.S. trade tariffs.