


Saturday Night Quarterback says, For the week ahead expect…
... massive demonstrations in the streets of Hong Kong to continue, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to threaten violent repression of the demonstrations, the official rhetoric of the Beijing government and its official media organs to put even more blame on the...China’s growth slows again–although the decline is very modest
Monthly figures continue to show that China's growth rate is in a very gentle downward trend--the People's Bank doesn't seem to be worried though In May retail sales grew by 8.5% year over year. That was below the 9.6% growth expected by analysts surveyed by...
So how long does China’s Xi intend to stay in power?
Chinese President Xi Jinping has centralized more power in his hands than any of his immediate predecessors. He’s certainly going to be able to pursue his goal of restoring China to its rightful place in the world economic and political order for the rest of his term–and beyond–without significant opposition. Expect an even more assertive China.

Any surprises for investors in the Communist Party Congress that starts tomorrow in China?
On the one hand, the results of the 19th Communist Party Congress that begins tomorrow are completely predictable. President Xi Jinping will be elected to a new five-year term and when the dust has cleared from the once-every-five-years turnover of party leaders, he will have tightened his grip on power still further. On the other hand, there’s huge uncertainty over what Xi will do with his power during the next five years.

China’s credit rating takes a hit from S&P
Standard & Poor’s lowered its credit rating on China’s sovereign debt by one step to A+ yesterday. The cut is the first ratings reduction since 1999. S&P cited the risks from the growing debt levels in China’s government and corporate sector as grounds for the lower rating.Â

Good news for the global economy: Inflation picks up in China
On Sunday the Chinese government announced that the headline Consumer Price Index (CPI)rose at a  year over year rate of 1.8%. Economists had expected a 1.6% increase. The August rate was the fastest pace since January. Core CPI, that is without the effect of volatile prices for energy and food, rose at a 2.2% year over year rate.

China bullish infrastructure rhetoric overshadows weak economic data
Add China to the list of those markets (oil being another example) where rhetoric is more important for setting market direction than data. Yesterday the Chinese government released generally disappointing economic numbers. Industrial output, for example, rose by 6.5% in April from April 2016. Economists were expecting growth of 7%.

Saturday Night Quarterback says, For the week ahead expect…
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China has been selling U.S. Treasuries
To subscribe to JAM you need to fill in some details below including, ahem, some info on how you'll pay us. A subscription is $199 (although if you're subscribing with one of our special offers it will be lower) for a year for ongoing and continuing access to the...Saturday Night Quarterback (on a Sunday) says, For the week ahead expect…
To subscribe to JAM you need to fill in some details below including, ahem, some info on how you'll pay us. A subscription is $199 (although if you're subscribing with one of our special offers it will be lower) for a year for ongoing and continuing access to the...China’s export engine falters again
Thanks to the 6.5% drop in the yuan against the dollar in 2016 and the 6% decline in the yuan against a benchmark basket of currencies, China’s dollar denominated exports fell 6.1% in December.