Chinese growth targets under threat

Activity in China’s factory sector shrank at its fastest rate in at least three years in August as domestic and export orders tumbled, increasing investors’ fears that the world’s second-largest economy may be lurching toward a hard landing.

Even more worrying, China’s services sector, which has been one of the lone bright spots in the sputtering economy, also showed signs of cooling, a similar business survey said.

Hurt by soft demand, overcapacity, and falling investment, the economy has also been buffeted by plunging shares and a shock yuan devaluation, in what some have called a “perfect storm” of factors that is rattling global markets and could strain relations with China’s major trading partners.