China Politburo Meeting (Dec. 24)

The Politburo has just concluded its December meeting, which focuses foremost on economic affairs. After 14 years of monetary policy being officially characterised as “prudent”, the meeting readout adopted the more dovish formulation of “moderately loose” instead. It also promised more proactive fiscal policy and called for “vigorously boosting consumption”. This suggest the policy stance will remain supportive but those hoping for big-bang stimulus are still likely to end up disappointed.