Markit’s Purchasing Managers’ Index will be disappointing reading for the European Central Bank, which left policy unchanged in January but hinted more easing more could be coming within months. Global markets have been battered since the start of this year, hitting stock markets, commodities and oil prices, as concern grew that the Chinese economy, the world’s second largest, is struggling. Growth of order books, exports and output all slowed,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at survey compiler Markit.