UPDATE: China's HSBC PMI came at 49.3 (slightly below the Flash print) but up from last month
The seemingly exuberant levels of the China Manufacturing PMI data when compared to HSBC's Manufacturing PMI have largely disappeared now as the two are the closest together in 9 months. As China's PMI drops to its lowest print in 8 months at 50.1 (less than the expected 50.5), we note that 10 of the 11 sub-indices (including employment and new orders) are all lower and now in contraction mode. Only the Output sub-index remains above 50 (in the if-we-build-it-they-will-come period). New Export Orders also fell notably. Of course having learned their lesson with the unintended consequences of their last major stimulus effort, we suspect the PBoC will be a little more careful with the method to resuscitate this time.
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We will update later with the final HSBC print (as opposed to the Flash print below)...