FX.co ★ Chinese services PMI falls in January

In China, the Markit/Caixin services purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell in January to 53.1 from 53.4 in the previous month. Improving business environment allowed companies to hire staff at the fastest pace in 20 months.

China’s manufacturing PMI dropped to 51, after hitting the 47-month high of 51.9 in December. Thus, Chinese authorities may focus on curbing financial risks associated with the growing debt.

Possibly, solid growth in the Chinese services sector will continue even despite a slowdown in January as the government has a goal to rebalance its economy by focusing on services and consumption, which are the main drivers of China’s economic growth.

New orders’ growth in the services sector has slowed down; however, it remains at a high level.

Input prices rose at the fastest rate in almost four years in January. Companies boosted output prices at the fastest pace since August 2015. At the same time, prices do not rise too much because of high competition preventing the rise in prices as this may lead to lower profits.

The Caixin composite PMI also showed solid growth, though at the slower pace than in December. The index declined to 52.2 in January from 53.5 in December.