February 2, 2012 –Word-Wide Factory Activity by Country: The manufacturing sectors in most of the world improved last month, though many regions, especially in Europe, remained in problematic territory.

China’s factory sector continued to expand, easing fears of a hard landing there, although they are expanding much more slowly. Meanwhile Germany and Austria moved back into growth territory, even as much of the rest of the euro zone was shrinking, though at a slower pace. U.S. manufacturing continued to post steady expansion, growing even further in January. However, with the biggest world economies slowing (the Euro Zone #1, China #3) sustaining U.S. growth could be difficult. The ONLY country that was expanding faster was India, which has significant limits to growth because infrastructure issues.

“Manufacturing is starting out the year on a positive note, with new orders, production and employment all growing in January,” said…