Category Archive: 5.) China

Wall Street veteran, merchant banker, equities trader, economist, finance professor, entrepreneur — iconoclast — Michael Pettis is a unique individual living and working in China, at the heart of the world’s most exciting and vibrant economy. Having learned firsthand how markets operate during his years on Wall Street, Michael has taken his knowledge and insight and applied them to the Asian financial markets as an expert analyst, commentator, and participant. His work and research focuses on monetary policy, trade policy, and the development of the banking and financial markets in China.

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Bi-Weekly Economic Review

2018-07-20

by Joseph Y. Calhoun

2018-07-20

This will be a fairly quick update as I just posted a Mid-Year Review yesterday that covers a lot of the same ground. There were, as you’ll see below, some fairly positive reports since the last update but the markets are not responding to the better data. Markets seem to be more focused on the trade wars and the potential fallout. I would also note that at least some of the recent strength in the data is related to the tariffs.

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Mid-Year Global Markets Update

2018-07-19

by Joseph Y. Calhoun

2018-07-19

Volatility returned to markets with a vengeance in the first half of this year. 2018 started off as an extension of last year when volatility was almost wholly absent. Stocks roared out of the starting gate, up almost every day until January 26th. And then – whoosh. What took nearly a month to gain took just 6 trading days to give back and then some.

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Bi-Weekly Economic Review – (VIDEO)

2018-07-14

by Joseph Y. Calhoun

2018-07-14

Economic thoughts and analysis from Alhambra Investments CEO Joe Calhoun.

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Buybacks Get All The Macro Hate, But What About Dividends?

2018-07-13

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2018-07-13

When it comes to the stock market and the corporate cash flow condition, our attention is usually drawn to stock repurchases. With good reason. These controversial uses of scarce internal funds are traditionally argued along the lines of management teams identifying and correcting undervalued shares. History shows, conclusively, that hasn’t really been true.

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China’s Seven Years Disinflation

2018-07-11

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2018-07-11

In early 2011, Chinese consumer prices were soaring. Despite an official government mandate for 3% CPI growth, the country’s main price measure started out the year close to 5% and by June was moving toward 7%. It seemed fitting for the time, no matter how uncomfortable it made PBOC officials. China was going to be growing rapidly even if the rest of the world couldn’t.

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US Vs China – Is It ‘Art Of The Deal’ Or Economic Warfare?

2018-07-04

by Tyler Durden

2018-07-04

While monetary tightening remains the main risk for global stock markets, the threat of a trade war continues to dominate the headlines...

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Revisiting The Revised Revisions

2018-06-30

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2018-06-30

I missed durable goods last month for scheduling reasons, which was a shame given that May is the month each year for benchmark revisions to the series. Since new estimates under the latest revisions were released today, it seems an appropriate time to revisit the topic of data bias, and why that matters. What happens with durable goods (or any data for that matter, the process is largely the same) is that the Census Bureau conducts smaller surveys...

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Bi-Weekly Economic Review (VIDEO)

2018-06-24

by Marcelo Perez

2018-06-24

Information and opinions about the economy and markets from Alhambra Investments CEO Joe Calhoun.

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Bi-Weekly Economic Review

2018-06-22

by Joseph Y. Calhoun

2018-06-22

10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Rate 1990-2018

Is the rate hiking cycle almost done? Not the question on everyone’s minds right now so a good time to ask it, I think. A couple of items caught my attention recently that made me at least think about the possibility. There has been for some time now a large short position held by speculators in the futures market for Treasuries.

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Global Asset Allocation Update

2018-06-21

by Joseph Y. Calhoun

2018-06-21

The risk budget is unchanged this month. For the moderate risk investor the allocation to bonds and risk assets is evenly split. There are changes this month within the asset classes. How far are we from the end of this cycle? When will the next recession arrive and more importantly when will stocks and other markets start to anticipate a slowdown?

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Chinese Inflation And Money Contributions To EM’s

2018-06-15

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2018-06-15

China CPI PBOC Bank Reserves, May 2007 - 2018

The People’s Bank of China won’t update its balance sheet numbers for May until later this month. Last month, as expected, the Chinese central bank allowed bank reserves to contract for the first time in nearly two years. It is, I believe, all part of the reprioritization of monetary policy goals toward CNY. How well it works in practice remains to be seen. Authorities are not simply contracting one important form of base money in China (bank...

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Bi-Weekly Economic Review – VIDEO

2018-06-14

by Joseph Y. Calhoun

2018-06-14

Interview with Joe Calhoun about BiWeekly Economic Review 15/06/2018.

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A Slight Hint Of A 2011 Feel

2018-06-13

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2018-06-13

Whenever a big bank is rumored to be in unexpected merger talks, that’s always a good sign, right? The name Deutsche Bank keeps popping up as it has for several years now, this is merely representative of what’s wrong inside of a global system that can’t ever get fixed. In this one case, we have a couple of perpetuated conventional myths colliding into what is still potentially grave misfortune.

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US Trade Settles Down Again

2018-06-08

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2018-06-08

U.S. Trade Trade Balance, Import, Export, Jan 2014 - May 2018

US trade is further leveling off after several months of artificial intrusions. On the import side, in particular, first was a very large and obvious boost following last year’s big hurricanes along the Gulf Coast. Starting in September 2017, for four months the value of imported goods jumped by an enormous 8.3% (revised, seasonally-adjusted). Most of the bump related to consumer and capital goods.

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Bi-Weekly Economic Review: As Good As It Gets?

2018-06-06

by Joseph Y. Calhoun

2018-06-06

In the last update I wondered if growth expectations – and growth – were breaking out to the upside. 10 year Treasury yields were well over the 3% threshold that seemed so ominous and TIPS yields were nearing 1%, a level not seen since early 2011. It looked like we might finally move to a new higher level of growth. Or maybe not.

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Bi-Weekly Economic Review – VIDEO

2018-06-04

by Marcelo Perez

2018-06-04

Interview with Joe Calhoun about BiWeekly Economic Review 01/06/2018.

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The Currency of PMI’s

2018-05-27

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2018-05-27

US Markit PMI and GDP, Jul 2012 - May 2018

Markit Economics released the flash results from several of its key surveys. Included is manufacturing in Japan (lower), as well as composites (manufacturing plus services) for the United States and Europe. Within the EU, Markit offers details for France and Germany.

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Anchoring Globally Synchronized Growth, Or We Gave Up Long Ago?

2018-05-24

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2018-05-24

China Fixed Asset Investment, Apr 2012 - 2018

January was the last month in which China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) specifically mentioned Fixed Asset Investment (FAI) of state holding enterprises (or SOE’s). For the month of December 2017, the NBS reported accumulated growth (meaning for all of 2017) in this channel of 10.1%. Through FAI of SOE’s, Chinese authorities in early 2016 had panicked themselves into unleashing considerable “stimulus.”

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All The World’s A (Imagined) Labor Shortage

2018-05-16

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2018-05-16

Last year’s infatuation with globally synchronized growth was at least understandable. From a certain, narrow point of view, Europe’s economy had accelerated. So, too, it seemed later in the year for the US economy. The Bank of Japan was actually talking about ending QQE with inflation in sight, and the PBOC was purportedly tightening as China’s economy appeared to many ready for its rebound.

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What China’s Trade Conditions Say About The Right Side Of ‘L’

2018-05-12

by Jeffrey P. Snider

2018-05-12

Chinese exports rose 12.9% year-over-year in April 2018. Imports were up 20.9%. As always, both numbers sound impressive but they are far short of rates consistent with a growing global economy. China’s participation in global growth, synchronized or not, is a must. The lack of acceleration on the export side tells us a lot about what to expect on the import side.

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