China Factory Activity Unexpectedly Slides Into Contraction

China’s factory activity unexpectedly deteriorated after snapping its worst contraction streak on record in December, as the world’s second-largest economy struggles to pick up momentum.

The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to 49.3 in January from 50.1 in December, the National Bureau of Statistics said Saturday. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 50.1.