Chinese services companies had a strong start to the third quarter of the year, according to latest PMI data, with business activity across the sector rising solidly overall. The upturn was supported by a marked and accelerated rise in overall new business, which encouraged firms to expand their payroll numbers for the sixth month in a row. However, services companies were slightly less optimistic when assessing the 12-month outlook for business activity, with overall confidence slipping to the lowest level since last November. Turning to prices data, companies signalled softer rises in both input costs and output ... (full story)