Mumbai, Feb. 4 -- Global manufacturing witnessed a modest but encouraging start to 2026, according to PMI data sponsored by J.P. Morgan and compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The headline global manufacturing PMI rose from 50.4 to a three-month high of 50.9, signalling a sustained, albeit subdued, improvement of business conditions for a sixth straight month. Although the index remains only modestly in expansion territory (i.e. above the 50.0 no change level), the ongoing resilience of the manufacturing sector in the face of heightened geopolitical tensions at the start of 2026 is itself encouraging. Some of the PMI's sub-indices also helped fuel some tentative optimism about the start of the year. In particular, the PMI's output i...