China’s Factories Still Struggling as Power Cuts Curb Output

(Bloomberg) — China’s factory activity contracted in August for a second straight month, with the economy taking a hit from power shortages spurred by a historic drought, on top of a property market crisis and Covid outbreaks.

The official manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 49.4 from 49 in July, according to a statement from the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday. That was slightly higher than the 49.2 in a Bloomberg survey of economists, but still below the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction.