China Services Growth Hits 6-Month Low in December PMI

A private survey shows China's services sector growth slowed to a six-month low in December, indicating ongoing pressure in its key economic pillar.

A key private sector survey indicates that growth in China's services sector slowed to a six-month low in December, according to the latest Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) data. The reading points to persistent economic headwinds within the nation's largest economic sector, which includes retail, finance, and hospitality. This slowdown suggests that domestic consumer demand remains subdued despite various policy support measures, raising fresh concerns about the momentum of China's economic recovery and its implications for global growth prospects.

This deceleration in services contrasts with hopes for a stronger, consumption-led rebound in the world's second-largest economy. The weak PMI represents a demand-side softness that external stimulus has struggled to overcome. The release of this below-expectations data is the critical economic deliverable signaling persistent fragility. This matters because a sluggish services sector limits job creation and wage growth, hindering a sustainable rebalancing of China's economy away from debt-fueled investment and exports, which carries significant weight for Asian supply chains and commodity-exporting nations.

For global investors, multinational corporations with China exposure, and Asian central banks, the implications are cautionary. This data necessitates a reassessment of China-dependent revenue forecasts and regional growth projections. The forecast is for increased pressure on Chinese policymakers to deploy more aggressive fiscal and monetary support. Decision-makers must model scenarios of a protracted Chinese slowdown. The next imperative is to monitor whether this services weakness spills over into the manufacturing sector and if it triggers a meaningful new round of macroeconomic stimulus from Beijing, which would be a key signal for emerging market assets and global risk appetite in early 2026.