Chinese Factory Gauge Shows Weakness That Spurred Rate Cut
Workers assemble products at the Logitech International SA factory in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. Worker advocates such as China Labor Watch have been critical of Apple suppliers, with reports that workers in China are forced to work unpaid overtime and are operating in unsafe factory environments.
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A Chinese factory gauge signaled contraction again in February, a day after the central bank’s decision to step up support for the economy with its second cut to benchmark interest rates in three months.
The government’s manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index was 49.9 last month from 49.8 in January, according to the statistics bureau and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing in Beijing. Numbers below 50 signal contraction.