September 15, 2021 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
Retail sales rose just 2.5% in August from a year earlier, China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported today. The estimate from economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for 7% year over year growth. Retail sales grew at an 8.5% pace in July. Industrial production was up 5.3% year over year, down from a 6.4% rate in July. Fixed asset investment grew by 8.9% in the first eight months of the year from the same period in 2020. Economists were looking for 9% growth. Construction investment contracted by 3.2% in t5he first eight months of 2021 from that period in 2020 as the government tightened controls on risky money accounts used to finance property development.
August 23, 2021 | Daily JAM, Perfect Five-ETFs, Stock Alerts |
It’s tempting right now to say “To hell with diversification; let’s put everything into U.S. stocks. After all, they’re outperformed most asset classes for most of 2020 and for the year to date.” That’s exactly the kind of thinking, however, that gets an investor into trouble when an asset class is trading near a historic high. A time like this, like now, is exactly when you should be looking to make sure that you’ve got decent balance in your portfolio. And, to the degree you can, own stuff that will go up when other stuff goes down. Which is why I’m adding shares of the Van Eck Agribusiness ETF (MOO) to the Perfect 5 ETF Portfolio today
August 5, 2021 | Daily JAM, Short Term |
With the report of 94 new local infections marking the broadest outbreak since the first in Wuhan in 2019, China imposed new restrictions on travel in 144 of the worst hit areas. The new rules curtail public transit and taxi service, curb train and subway service, and re-imposed quarantines.
June 13, 2021 | Daily JAM, Friday Trick or Trend |
On Wednesday, June 16, China will release its official data on economic indicators such as industrial output and retail sales. The numbers are expected to show a slowing from April’s torrid growth but still a very healthy pace of improvement. Which would be a good thing since an over-heating Chinese economy would be one source of potential global inflation, and especially of commodity price inflation.
January 19, 2021 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting that China would report 6.2% GDP growth for the fourth quarter of 2020. Instead the government announced that China’s economy grew by 6.5% in the quarter. That pushed GDP growth for 2020 to 2.3% for the full 2020 year instead of the 2.1% forecast by economists.
December 7, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
China’s exports jumped in November by the most since early 2018. That growth pushed the country’s trade surplus to a monthly record. Exports rose 21.1% war over year in dollar terms in November, the largest increase since February 2018. Imports grew by only 4.5%. That resulted in a trade surplus of $75.4 billion for the month. That was the largest on record in data going back to at least 1990. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast that exports would increase by 12% while imports would grow by 7%.
November 30, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
China’s official Purchasing Managers Index for Manufacturing rose to 52.1 in November. The was up from 51.4 in October. And beat the 51.5 median estimate from economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The index for the non-manufacturing sector climbed to 56.4 in November from 56.2 in October. That exceeded the median forecast of 56. The picture that emerges is of a Chinese economy that has stabilized in November and that has momentum generated by end of the year consumer spending and government measures to stimulate domestic consumer.
September 15, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
China's retail sales gained 0.5% year over year in August. That's the first growth in retail sales since the coronavirus hit early in 2020. Industrial production in China rose 5.6% for the month from August 2019, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. In the...
August 14, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
In July China's industrial output climbed by 4.8% year over year, Beijing announced today. That's the same rate as in June. This good news in that it shows the post-coronavirus recovery continues in the industrial sector. But it's bad news in that growth isn't...
August 5, 2020 | Daily JAM |
Preliminary figures for July show vehicle sales in China advancing for a fourth straight month as buyers gradually return to auto showrooms. The figures are good news for China's economy as a whole, which looks to have returned to growth--very modest growth--as the...
July 31, 2020 | Daily JAM |
The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to 51.1 in July from 50.9 in June, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics today, Friday, July 31. In this index anything above 50 indicates expansion and anything below 50...
July 11, 2020 | Daily JAM, FQVLF, Friday Trick or Trend, SCCO, Top 50 Stocks, Volatility, You Might Have Missed |
Our regular (or occasional or perhaps occasionally regular) Friday series (actually running on Saturday this week) Trick or Trend looks at what might (or might not) be emerging investible trends. Exclusively on JAM. This post won't run anywhere else. Ever. Back on...
