China’s September Services PMI Rises to 50.2, Construction Back to 50.3

Both sub-indices clearing 50 matters less for the level than for the direction: services and construction had been the softest parts of the non-manufacturing picture, so a synchronized move back into expansion suggests the drag was fading rather than deepening. The construction rebound is the more notable of the two, given how much of China's industrial demand — and by extension its commodity and RWA-linked flows — rides on that sector. Whether the improvement holds into the next reading, or proves a one-month base effect, is the open question.