China Data Response China PMIs (Jul.) The surveys suggest that China’s economic recovery slowed in July as the one-off boost from reopening faded. It is consistent with our view that activity will remain below trend in the coming quarters... 1st August 2022 · 2 mins read
China Economics Weekly GDP target dropped, property rescue plans The Politburo this week quietly abandoned the GDP growth target while promising to support the property sector and ensure that stalled projects are completed. The immediate goal is to boost confidence... 29th July 2022 · 6 mins read
China Economics Update Policymakers give up on 5.5% growth The readout of the Politburo’s quarterly meeting on economic affairs has just been published by state media. It reiterates the need for more policy support but stops short of any major new... 28th July 2022 · 3 mins read
China Economic Outlook Reopening rebound set to slow Activity has bounced back from lockdowns but China’s economic recovery will become more challenging from here on as exports turn from tailwind to headwind and the property downturn deepens. Policy... 28th July 2022 · 22 mins read
China Chart Pack Housing crisis flares up again The mortgage boycotts are a double threat to developers and to the housing market. They have drawn attention to the problem of cash-strapped developers being unable to complete properties that they... 27th July 2022 · 11 mins read
Capital Daily For EM financial markets, bad news is just bad news We expect weak global growth to keep the pressure on EM sovereign bonds over the rest of 2022, and think that most EM currencies will weaken against the US dollar over this period. 27th July 2022 · 5 mins read
Metals Data Response Global Steel Production (June) Global steel production growth slowed in June as higher power costs in advanced economies contributed to lower output there. By contrast, the decline in China’s output slowed slightly. Overall, we... 22nd July 2022 · 2 mins read
China Economics Weekly Property financing strains, migrant job losses Regulators have called on banks to step up lending to developers. But with banks becoming more cautious about issuing mortgages in the face of mortgage boycotts and local governments tightening... 22nd July 2022 · 4 mins read
China Activity Monitor CAP: Economy on the mend but still limping Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that the economic hit from lockdowns had largely reversed in June. But infection numbers are ticking up again. And even if another large-scale virus wave is... 21st July 2022 · 3 mins read
Asia Economic Outlook Tightening cycles to be short lived as headwinds grow Further interest rate hikes are likely across the region in the near term, and we have raised some of our year-end forecasts to reflect growing concern among the region’s policymakers about inflation... 20th July 2022 · 34 mins read
Metals Data Response Global Aluminium Production (Jun.) Global aluminium production ticked up again in June, but the increase was not sufficient to explain the plunge in prices last month. Base effects will mean that China’s production growth will... 20th July 2022 · 2 mins read
China Data Response China GDP (Q2), Activity & Spending (Jun.) The statistics bureau claim that output in Q2 was slightly higher than a year ago. That’s implausible even accounting for the strong rebound shown on the monthly data for June. 15th July 2022 · 3 mins read
China Economics Weekly Housing market jitters, demographic decline Homebuyers across China are banding together to pause mortgage payments in response to construction delays on presold apartments. For now these boycotts are small in scale. But they could become more... 15th July 2022 · 4 mins read
Capital Daily We think Treasury yields will rise again even if inflation eases While we expect upcoming US CPI reports to be more encouraging than June’s one, we still think that the yield of 10-year Treasuries will rise further over the remainder of this year. 13th July 2022 · 6 mins read
Commodities Update China’s commodities imports may be close to a trough Commodity import volumes were generally weak in June. We think some of this reflects the lingering impact of lockdowns on demand, but it also points to subdued activity in heavy industry and... 13th July 2022 · 2 mins read
China Data Response China Trade (Jun.) Import volumes fell to a three-year low last month, pointing to continued weakness in China’s construction sector. Exports rebounded strongly as shipping bottlenecks eased. But we think this may be... 13th July 2022 · 3 mins read
