China's manufacturing contracts for 3rd straight month

BEIJING (AP) -- China's manufacturing contracted for the third consecutive month in October in a sign of weakness in the world's second-largest economy, official data showed Sunday. The National Bureau of Statistics said that China's purchasing managers' index was 49.8 for October, the same figure as September. A PMI reading above 50 indicates an expansion of manufacturing activity while those below 50 indicate contraction. The official non-manufacturing PMI, which gauges the services sector, wa...