Write offs from bad loans at China’s big banks soar by 127% in 2013

Write offs from bad loans at China’s big banks soar by 127% in 2013

China’s five biggest banks increased their write off of bad loans by 127% in 2013 over 2012 levels. And the rising level of write offs along with the puzzlingly low ratio of non-performing loans at these banks has raised suspicions that banks are manipulating write offs to prevent the non-performing loan ratios from rising so quickly that they set off alarms in financial markets.

Anything more than end of the quarter “optimism”?

Take it with a grain of salt: Today’s rally has all the earmarks of an end of the quarter effort to push stock prices higher. The driver for the upward move on stock prices today seems to be market enthusiasm for the possibility that the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, and the Chinese government will all move to stimulate their respective economies.