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A further acceleration in home prices on the official survey of 70 cities has sparked hopes that China’s residential property market may be heating up after more than a year of nearly flat sales. But we are less optimistic. Our own calculation of …
18th April 2019
Among the better-than-expected data published this week, industrial output growth stood out as especially strong after it jumped by the most since March 2009. But there are reasons to think that underlying momentum has not improved as dramatically as the …
China’s economy stabilised in Q1 thanks to a marked improvement in activity last month. Admittedly, the latest surge in industrial production is hard to take at face value and is likely to be partially reversed in the coming months. And some downside …
17th April 2019
The government’s plans to make it easier for rural migrants in small cities to acquire urban residency permits have raised hopes of a revival in property sales. But the nationwide impact will probably be marginal unless restrictions in larger cities are …
12th April 2019
Broad credit growth rose in March, but is still consistent with further economic weakness in the near term. We think that the People’s Bank will loosen policy further over coming months. … Bank Lending & Broad Credit …
Stronger-than-anticipated exports hint at an uptick in foreign demand but disappointing imports suggest that domestic demand may not be holding up as well as hoped. … Trade …
We expect stimulus to shore up growth in the next few months. But with the scale of policy support smaller than in previous downturns, the sharp economic rebound that some are expecting is unlikely. … Policy restraint to limit scale of …
Higher food and oil prices pushed up headline inflation last month but broader price pressures remained subdued and we don’t anticipate an imminent turnaround in underlying inflation. … Consumer & Producer Prices …
11th April 2019
Markets no longer expect further monetary easing in China but we aren’t convinced. Headwinds to growth look set to resurface as support from fiscal front-loading wanes, at which stage the stimulus baton is likely to be passed back to the People’s Bank. … …
5th April 2019
Contrary to the mainstream view that China will keep growing at fairly rapid rates, we expect GDP growth there to slow to 2% by 2030. This slowdown need not in itself be bad for the rest of the world, especially if slower growth continues to be …
2nd April 2019
The strength of the latest survey data suggests that growth in China may already be bottoming out. But there are still reasons to be cautious about the near-term outlook. … Manufacturing PMIs …
1st April 2019
The latest central bank surveys suggest that firms turned more upbeat this quarter as trade tensions eased and banks expanded lending. However, this positive shift in business sentiment has yet to translate into stronger economic activity and consumer …
29th March 2019
A sharp fall in earnings for industrial firms in January and February shows the pressure that weak demand is putting firms’ balance sheets under. We think officials will respond by cutting benchmark lending rates over the weeks ahead. … Weak profits …
27th March 2019
While China’s incoming economic data have mostly been weak recently, two under-reported positives have helped shore up growth: a fiscal splurge by local governments and strong property construction. But recent developments suggest that both will soon …
22nd March 2019
Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that the economy softened in the second half of 2018 and weakened further in the first two months of this year. The slowdown has been mild so far, with growth supported by strong construction activity. But we don’t …
20th March 2019
The jump in China’s unemployment rate from 4.9% in December to 5.3% last month, the highest in nearly two years, has added to the worries about the economy. The survey-based unemployment rate may not be the most reliable indicator of labour market …
18th March 2019
Premier Li spoke to the press at the close of the National People’s Congress (NPC) today. He offered further details on the timing and scale of policy support – smaller than in previous cycles but probably enough to stabilise growth later this year. …
15th March 2019
The latest data suggest that economic conditions remained weak at the start of 2019, with developers paring back property construction and infrastructure spending underwhelming. … Activity & Spending (Jan. & …
14th March 2019
The sharp drop in lending last month reversed much of the jump in January. With the trajectory of credit growth still pointing to further economic weakness, we think the People’s Bank will need to roll out additional policy support. … Bank Lending & Broad …
11th March 2019
The February trade data are downbeat, even accounting for seasonal distortions. Tariffs are weighing on shipments to the US. But broader weakness in global demand means that, even if Trump and Xi finalise a trade deal soon, the outlook for exports remains …
8th March 2019
There is a tension between the policy stimulus announced this week at the National People’s Congress and the government’s goal of keeping the debt ratio stable. Ultimately, we expect officials to err on the side of supporting growth. … On contradictions …
The People’s Bank (PBOC) does not appear to have intervened substantially in FX markets in February, suggesting that the renminbi is not facing much downward pressure at present. However, with the economy likely to slow further in coming months and …
7th March 2019
The key takeaway from today’s policy announcements at the opening of the National People’s Congress is that the leadership are still trying to balance efforts to support growth with concerns about financial risks. Officials pledged some moderate policy …
5th March 2019
The unofficial PMI rebounded last month, after slumping in January. Looking through this volatility, the survey data remain consistent with our expectation for a further slowdown in economic growth in Q1. … Caixin Manufacturing PMI …
1st March 2019
Policymakers are already billing the deleveraging campaign a success. But we doubt that the recent stabilisation of the debt ratio will prove durable. Meanwhile, Chinese equity prices have jumped beyond what is justified by easing trade tensions. With …
The latest survey data suggest that manufacturing output growth slowed last month, possibly to its weakest level since 2009. Construction activity also appears to have softened, raising questions over the strength of fiscal support. … Official PMIs …
28th February 2019
Hong Kong’s economy ended last year on a weak note as exports slumped and household spending softened. We think growth will remain subdued in the months ahead. The relatively expansionary budget unveiled today will provide some support. But tight monetary …
27th February 2019
Negotiators are making progress sketching out the specifics of a US-China trade deal, which suggests that Trump is likely to postpone the tariff hikes scheduled for next week. But the big picture is that any trade deal won’t avert a further economic …
22nd February 2019
The impact of US tariffs on China’s exports was initially masked by firms rushing out shipments of unaffected products in an attempt to beat any tariffs that came in later. That “front-running” seems to have run its course. The most recent US data show …
21st February 2019
Concerns about China’s external debt have increased recently as interest rates abroad have risen and slowing domestic economic momentum has put firms’ balance sheets under strain. But much of the country’s external debt is low-risk and unlikely to cause …
20th February 2019
Rising defaults have widened credit spreads during the past year, preventing borrowing costs for less creditworthy firms from falling in response to looser monetary conditions. Given that subprime borrowers drive the bulk of shadow lending and a large …
15th February 2019
The jump in bank lending last month was mostly seasonal. But after months of declines, broad credit growth did edge up in January, hinting that monetary easing may be starting to gain more traction. … Bank Lending & Broad Credit …
Below-consensus inflation in January suggests that demand remained sluggish at the start of the year. Factory gate prices are now falling, which is likely to feed through to weaker profit growth among industrial firms and put pressure on policymakers to …
The January trade data were much stronger than anticipated but seasonal volatility caused by annual shifts in the timing of Chinese New Year make it difficult to get a good grip on underlying trends at this time of year. Even if the latest recovery in …
14th February 2019
The People’s Bank (PBOC) appears to have intervened little in FX markets last month, suggesting that the renminbi is not facing much downward pressure at present. However, with the economy likely to slow and interest rates likely to fall further over …
11th February 2019
China looks likely to introduce only about half as much fiscal and monetary stimulus in response to the current downturn as it did in 2015/16. Any rebound in growth will be much more tepid as a result. The boost for countries that export to China will be …
6th February 2019
Progress in the US-China trade talks and the dollar’s fall following the US Fed’s dovish policy statement this week pushed the renminbi to a six-month high. But we think that pressure on the currency will return before long. Meanwhile, policymakers are …
1st February 2019
The slump in the Caixin manufacturing PMI reading in January to its lowest since February 2016 paints a much bleaker picture than the official PMI reading released yesterday. With the headwinds from cooling global growth and the lagged impact of slower …
While the official manufacturing PMI didn’t weaken any further in January, it still suggests that the economy lost momentum at the start of the year. … Official PMIs …
31st January 2019
Most recent signs point to a gradual deceleration in China’s economy but the import data are a key exception, showing an abrupt contraction in November and December. While there appear to be several factors at play, we can’t completely rule out a …
29th January 2019
Our China Activity Proxy (CAP) suggests that growth edged up in December driven by strong construction activity. But with credit now growing at the slowest pace in more than a decade and the impact of the government’s property controls yet to be fully …
28th January 2019
On paper, China’s rebalancing is going swimmingly, with the consumption share of GDP growth jumping last year to its highest level in almost two decades. But this is hard to square with broader data showing weaker consumer spending. One drag has been a …
25th January 2019
China’s working age population is currently falling by around 0.2% per year and in 2018 employment contracted for the first time in the reform era. These developments aren’t a surprise but the demographic outlook does appear to be deteriorating faster …
23rd January 2019
The detailed breakdown of China’s Q4 GDP data released today points toward softer service sector activity last quarter on the back of slower property sales and weaker consumer spending. We expect services growth to come under further pressure this year, …
22nd January 2019
Growth edged down last quarter, with the slowdown on the official GDP figures corroborated by other data. Conditions improved somewhat in December, but we expect the uptick in industrial output and consumer spending to prove short-lived. … GDP (Q4), …
21st January 2019
The liquidity injection by the PBOC this week was the largest on record. But it was mainly intended to manage the usual cash crunch ahead of Chinese New Year rather than loosen monetary conditions. The main constraint on further easing at the moment is …
18th January 2019
Officials have stepped up policy support in response to faltering domestic momentum. But with credit now growing at the weakest pace in more than a decade, the economy will not stabilise until at least the middle of this year. … Stimulus won’t prevent …
Policymakers have been making a coordinated effort today to provide reassurance that more stimulus is in the pipeline. But today’s data showing growth of outstanding credit still at its slowest pace in more than a decade suggests that the economy won’t …
15th January 2019
Export growth dropped more than anticipated in December as global growth softened and the drag from US tariffs intensified. Import growth also fell sharply in the face of cooling domestic demand. We expect both to remain weak in the coming quarters. … …
14th January 2019
The economic targets for 2019 that have been leaked this week signal official acknowledgement that China’s growth is slowing. Nonetheless, the low target for the fiscal deficit suggests that policymakers are still reluctant to launch major stimulus. A …
11th January 2019
