Each month Bloomberg cast an eye across the various private-indicator early measures of the Chinese economy

  • China's earliest economic indicators hinted that growth continued to moderate in September as official drives to curb debt risk and clear the skies weighed on activity.

The article is here, but in brief:

The S&P Global Platts China Steel Sentiment Index

  • one-year high of 60.9 this month
  • September is typically a stronger month for steel as construction picks up and inventory stocking begins ahead of October holidays
  • Paul Bartholomew, senior managing editor of steel and raw materials for S&P in Melbourne says "This year is more buoyant than usual," he said. "Prices have hit four- or five-year highs and the upcoming 19th Party Congress in Beijing could result in some production curtailments and tighten up supply."

Standard Chartered China Small Medium Enterprises Confidence Index

  • down to 56.2 from 57.4 in August
  • "Production momentum stayed positive on solid demand" while investment appetite weakened slightly, economists Shen Lan and Ding Shuang wrote in a report

Sales Managers Sentiment

  • second-lowest value in the past 11 months
  • staffing index reflects a "flat job market"
  • gauge of prices charged was stable for a third straight month

China Satellite Manufacturing Index (monitors commercial satellite imagery to gauge activity levels across thousands of industrial sites)

  • strengthened to a six-month high of 51.7 from 51.2 in August

China Economic Panel (a joint project of The Centre for European Economic Research in Mannheim, Germany, and Fudan University in Shanghai)

  • The index, reflecting global investors' expectations for the country's macroeconomic development over the next 12 months, rose to 8.3 from zero in August

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Oh, and as a ps ... China September PMIs are to be published on Saturday (preview to come)