SYDNEY — There were few signs of demand recovering in factories in China and Japan — the world’s second and third largest economies — in July, with surveys across Asia offering only crumbs of comfort after weak growth readings in the US and Europe.The fitful global performance was clearly on the mind of William Dudley, a top policy maker at the Federal Reserve, who used a speech in Indonesia to urge caution on raising US interest rates.Dudley, a close ally of Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen, warned of negative shocks due to the unknown fallout from Britain’s vote to leave the EU, a strong dollar, and because it was safer to delay a move with interest rates so low.Among the slew of surveys out on Monday, China’s official purchasing managers index (PMI) slipped a tick to 49.9 in July, inching below the 50 mark that is supposed to separate growth from contraction."Today’s data do not bode well for GDP growth," ANZ economist Louis Lam wrote in a note."The traditional manufacturing sector is...
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