China’s manufacturing PMI rises to 51.5 in August, beats forecast

China’s private-sector manufacturing PMI came in at 51.5 for August, clearing the consensus forecast of 51.0 and improving on July’s 50.9 reading. The number suggests that smaller, export-oriented factories are gaining traction, offering a counterpoint to the more cautious picture painted by official government data. The reading matters because 50 is the dividing line between expansion and contraction in purchasing managers’ surveys. Anything above it means more factory managers reported improving conditions than deteriorating ones. Two surveys, two stories China publishes two sets of manufacturing PMI data each month, and they don’t always agree. The official PMI from the National Bureau of Statistics, which skews toward larger state-owned enterprises, registered at 49.8 in August. That’s an improvement of 0.6 points from July’s 49.2 and beat analyst expectations that hovered around 49.5 to 49.7. But 49.8 is still below 50. It marks the second consecutive month in contraction territory for the official reading, driven by weak domestic demand, adverse weather, and lower employment and inventory levels. The private-sector survey, which captures more of the small-and-medium enterpris...