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- China's economic woes are mounting, with more negative news coming in every week.
- The nation's manufacturing activity shrank for the fifth straight month, the latest data show.
- Economists have slashed their China growth forecasts for 2023 and 2024.
China's manufacturing sector contracted for a fifth straight month in August, indicating troubles for the world's second-largest economy are far from over.
The latest reading for the nation's manufacturing purchasing managers' index, or PMI, came in at 49.7 — below the 50 level that divides expansion and contraction.
Factories in the Asian nation have been struggling for months because of a slump in global demand as well as reduced domestic consumer spending.