Quotes from Societe Generale Cross Asset Research:
-We expect China's two manufacturing PMIs to drop in February. The official gauge is likely to fall further from 49.8 in January to 49.6 in February and the HSBC flash reading to dip from 49.7 to 49.5 in the same period.
-The Chinese New Year holiday and disinflation are likely to have exerted downward pressure on the survey readings, but weak demand has probably remained a factor as well.
-As we observed in other data, once again this year the Chinese economy seems to be exhibiting a similar pattern of a weak first quarter. Data disappointment is likely to continue into mid-April when March data are released.
