By Natalia Gurushina, Chief Economist, Emerging Markets Fixed Income Strategy
China’s activity gauges slowed further in February, but this weakness is likely to be temporary. Activity gauges across EM showed a lot of divergence.
China’s activity gauges undershot expectations in February (see chart below),
but there are good reasons to believe that
the weakness is temporary. First, China’s manufacturing typically moderates during the Lunar New Year due to factory closures. But this year’s celebrations also coincided with the new COVID restrictions, exacerbating the seasonal pattern. Second, many high-frequency indicators (including energy production by six major power stations) already show improvements compared to January. Third, production and business expectations held on extremely well despite the second wave of the movement restrictions. Finally, the global trade is rebounding – as witnessed for example by increasing container supply from China – which is a welcome tailwind for China’s export PMIs.