China's exports surge

Shanghai: China's official purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 55.1 in March from 52.0 in February, beating expectations and pointing to brisk first-quarter GDP growth. Sub-indexes for output, new orders, new export orders, imports and job creation all rose strongly.
The headline PMI from a parallel HSBC/Markit survey rose to 57.0, the third-highest level in the six-year history of the survey, from 55.8 in February. A reading above 50 means activity is expanding.
"Another substantially high headline manufacturing PMI reading, combined with strong growth of exports, points to an acceleration in industrial production and likely over 11 percent GDP growth in the first quarter," Qu Hongbin, chief economist for China at HSBC, said in a statement on Thursday. [02/04/10]