China’s latest PMI numbers fell below the threshold, to 49.4.
→ What is PMI? PMI, stands for purchasing manager’s index, measures the confidence of businesses in things like new orders, hiring and supply chains. A reading above 50 measures good confidence, whilst a reading below shows uncertainty.
The global economy sees China as the powerhouse in manufacturing. A sense of weakness from China spells quite trouble for the rest. Weaker manufacturing could potentially lead to higher unemployment, which is already an existing headache for the Chinese government, with youth unemployment remaining at extortionately high levels.
What does it mean for you?
China’s biggest export to the UK was electrical equipment, valued at $16.01bn. A drop from pandemic levels of $18.2bn but crucial for the UK to keep up with technology advancement. Lower manufacturing confidence may lead to lower investments and potentially redundancies, signalling lower output. The most common response to this is to hike prices to compensate for this.
Coincide this with Trump’s tariff mania, tech prices could be driven higher from laptops to TVs and even your digital subscriptions. What this tells us is that no-one is safe from price hikes, and what you you pay today may not be the same the next day.
Econ Oddities 
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