China Factory Activity Unexpectedly Worsens as Trade Wobbles

China’s factory activity unexpectedly deteriorated in July to a three-month low despite a tariff truce with the US, as early signs emerge exports are slowing and weak domestic demand persists.

The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index was 49.3 after 49.7 in June, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday, below the 50 mark that indicates contraction. The reading was worse than all but one forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists, whose median estimate was 49.7.