Tag Archives: China

Die Bestverdienenden haben am meisten vom Wachstum profitiert: Luxuswagen vor Luxus-Wohnhäusern in der Provinz Hainan. Foto: Wang Zhao (AFP) Seit seinem Bestseller «Das Kapital im 21. Jahrhundert» zählt der französische Wirtschaftsprofessor Thomas Piketty zu den bekanntesten Ökonomen. (Er war mehrfach Thema dieses Blogs, zum Beispiel hier und hier.) Piketty lehrt in Paris und widmet seine Forschung der Einkommensungleichheit. Seine These: Immer weniger Menschen profitieren von dem...

An article in February on BullionStar’s website titled “A Chink of Light into London’s Gold Vaults?” discussed an upcoming development in the London Gold Market, namely that both the Bank of England (BoE) and the commercial gold vault providers in London planned to begin publishing regular data on the quantity of physical gold actually stored in their gold vaults. Critically, this physical gold stored at both the Bank...

According to the headline TIC statistics, foreign central banks have in the past six months sold the fewest UST’s since the 6-month period ended November 2015. That may indicate an easing of “dollar” pressure in the private markets due to “reflation” sentiment. They are, however, still selling. In February 2017, the latest month available, the foreign official sector disposed of another $10.7 billion (net) after -$44.9...

The mainstream narrative as it relates to Chinese money is “tightening.” Having survived the economic downturn last year, we are to believe that the PBOC is once again on bubble duty. They raised their reverse repo rates, considered to be their policy benchmarks, three times up to mid-March. The central bank also increased the rate on its Medium Term Lending Facility (MLF) which has been a main source of RMB liquidity...

The Bretton Woods system was intentionally set up to funnel monetary convertibility through official channels. The primary characteristic of any true gold standard is that any person who wishes can change paper claims into hard money. It was as much true in any one country as between those bound by the same legal framework (property). What might differ were the standards for satisfying those claims (“good delivery”...

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, April 21(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ) - Click to enlarge FX Rates Neither the terrorist attack in Paris nor the strong eurozone flash PMI has managed to shake investors. Judging from the social media, many suspect that the terrorist attack plays into Le Pen’s hands, but investors do not seem particularly concerned. The French interest rate premium over Germany has...

First quarter GDP in China rose 6.9%, better than expected and above the government’s target (6.5%) for 2017. It stands to reason, however, that if Communist officials thought they could get 6.9% to last for the whole year they would have made it their target, especially since 6.5% would be less than the GDP growth rate for 2016 (6.7%). In only that one way is China’s GDP statistic meaningful. Due to unanswered...

As with all statistics, there are discrepancies that from time to time may obscure the meaning or validity of the particular estimate in question. For the vast majority of the time, any such uncertainties amount to very little. Overall, harmony among the major accounts reduces the signal noise from any one featuring a significant inconsistency. There are, of course, various economic areas where estimates are going to...

Summary: China’s trade concessions seem modest, but little discussion of US concessions. Reports suggest Trump is set to sign a new executive order to investigate trade practices in steel, aluminum, and maybe household appliances. Trade imbalances and floating currencies are not mutually exclusive. Last week’s meeting between the US and China’s Presidents did not produce much fireworks or headlines. The...

Swiss Franc Switzerland Producer Price Index (PPI) YoY March 2017(see more posts on Switzerland Producer Price Index, ) Source: investing.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The US dollar slid after US President Trump complained about its strength.  The sell-off extended into early Asian activity, before stabilizing.  It is mixed in late morning European turnover, which is already lightening up due to the extended...