Tag Archives: China

A Glut of Metal Stocks in China Spells Doom for Mining Companies and Australia

Chinese construction has sowed the seeds of its own destruction, and that of the commodity producers who have supplied it. The unprecedented build up of metal stocks in China suggests the global economy is in real trouble, Reuters reported yesterday.
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The Game is Up for the Commodity Super-Cycle as the Yo-Yo Years Begin

If a blizzard of awful Chinese economic data isn’t enough to convince you that China is heading into a deflationary slump and the commodity “super-cycle” is coming to an end, then the deepening crisis in the euro-zone should be. That’s because not only will a massive reduction in foreign lending by European banks hurt investment in emerging markets, but supplier economies will be hit disproportionately, as they were post-Lehman.
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Looming Electricity Shortages are Killing Jobs in Britain

Disadvantaged by carbon emissions regulations, the developed world is losing jobs to the developing world at an alarming rate. But nowhere is investment more threatened by energy policy than in Britain, the only country in the world which is committed to closing down virtually all of its economy, so that it can cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 80% of 1990 levels by 2050.
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Germany’s Approaching Götterdämmerung

Germany has been viewed as a safe haven by investors, until now. After all, its export sector has been booming. But investors are beginning to bet against Germany and its manufacturing firms, as a break-up of the euro-zone creeps ever closer. This is because the cost of failure for Germany is growing fast, and the Bundesbank may be trying to force the government’s hand before it digs itself a deeper hole.
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Is China Heading for a Hard Landing?

A “soft landing” in China is beginning to look like wishful thinking. To cushion the blow to exporters during the global financial crisis, the Chinese property bubble was inflated recklessly. Built on the foundations of excess investment the Chinese economy had become a house of cards requiring growth to avoid collapse. However, China has had to choke credit to the property sector because absurd property valuations and inflation were beginning to affect social stability. Now the runaway train of development is going off the rails just as the euro-zone crisis is threatening global trade, and the shockwaves will be felt across the world.
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A New Wave of Chinese Accounting Scandals Puts Pressure on Regulators to Act

The Sino Forest scandal last year put the spotlight on dodgy Chinese accounting. Chinese companies listed in the West and, were likely to become uninvestable, the Angry Analyst argued. Such negative publicity was also likely to damage confidence in Hong Kong listed stocks. Since then, a wave of new frauds in has hit Chinese companies in New York and Hong Kong, leading to growing pressure on Western regulators to take action.
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The EU’s Carbon Tax on Airlines Won’t Fly

‘Saving the planet’ was always going to bring the EU into conflict with countries not foolish to cripple their industries with anti-carbon taxes. But the EU is now trying to impose its emissions trading scheme directly on non-EU airlines. So it's not surprising that China has put a shot across the EU’s bows - in what could turn into the first carbon war - by blocking a $3.8 billion dollar order by Hong Kong Airlines for 10 Airbus superjumbo aircraft.
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The West’s Manufacturing Continues to Pay for Green Gesture Politics

The true economic cost of Western government’s obsession with fighting global warming is becoming increasingly apparent. News that a fifth of the UK’s soaring energy bills now consist of hidden environmental subsidies has brought home the cost of Britain’s economically suicidal commitment to reduce CO2 emissions by 80% within 40 years. It can’t be long before there is a political backlash from consumers and industry against the West's green gesture politics.
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Transparently Time to Sell Chinese B Shares.

The entire Chinese stock market is feeling the weight of fraud fears, as growing concerns about accounting irregularities in US-listed stocks tars every stock with the same brush.
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Bursting the Bubble of Chinese Competitiveness

What should alarm investors in Asia is the speed at which China is losing competitiveness. Inflation in China is probably more intractable than official headline statistics reveal, and because Chinese productivity is failing to keep pace with wage increases, while US productivity is far outstripping wage increases, the wage differential between the US and China is being compressed. So significant is the loss of Chinese competitiveness, that it’s argued that American manufacturing could experience a renaissance over the next five years.
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