BBC (December 6)
Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil giant, “raised a record $25.6bn (£19.4bn) in its initial public offering in Riyadh. The share sale was the biggest ever, surpassing that of China’s Alibaba which raised $25bn in 2014 in New York.” When trading begins, it will become “the most valuable listed company in the world,” valued at $1.7tn based on the IPO.
Tags: Alibaba, China, IPO, Most valuable, New York, Oil, Record, Riyadh, Saudi Aramco, Share sale
New York Times (November 26)
“Citizens voted overwhelmingly for pro-democracy candidates” in Hong Kong’s local election this Sunday. “If the Chinese leadership under Xi Jinping had thought that there was a silent majority opposed to the disruptive protests, the turnout and result made clear that a vast majority of Hong Kongers treasure their relative freedoms and have no intention of letting Beijing whittle them away.”
Tags: Candidates, China, Citizens, Election, Hong Kong, Leadership, Overwhelmingly, Pro-democracy, Protests, Turnout, Vote, Xi
South China Morning Post (November 25)
“China’s restrained stance on the increasingly violent Hong Kong protests is burnishing its image as a responsible stakeholder in the international system…. While China cannot afford Hong Kong to become the next Tiananmen, it can well afford to see the city recede into global economic irrelevance. What does not matter economically hardly matters politically.”
Tags: China, Economically, Hong Kong, Irrelevance, Politically, Protests, Responsible, Stakeholder, Stance, Tiananmen, Violent
Investment Week (November 18)
The Fed’s “180-degree policy U-turn…from tightening to loosening interest rates” has “increased uncertainty about monetary policy.” Another factor exacerbating matters is “the unpredictable and escalating trade war between the US and China.” Combined, they have “resulted in a higher frequency of volatility spikes and some violent sector rotation.”
Tags: China, Fed, Interest rates, Loosening, Monetary policy, Tightening, Trade war, U-turn, U.S., Uncertainty, Unpredictable, Volatility
Business Insider (November 17)
“While you weren’t looking… the trade war with China went completely off the rails and lost its meaning.” The trade war ostensibly began to deal with the “theft of US intellectual property (IP).” This key issue has essentially been abandoned and the dispute has moved on. It now appears centered on “how many soybeans China will buy.”
Bloomberg (November 16)
China’s Q3 expansion is “the weakest since the government began releasing quarterly data in 1992. An obvious cause is the ongoing trade war…, but the economy would be decelerating even without that as is transitions away from the high debt, often wasteful growth model of the past. The knock-on effects are global, affecting companies and consumers alike.”
Tags: China, Debt, Decelerating, Economy, Expansion, Government, Q3, Trade war, Wasteful growth
Investment Week (November 8)
“Both Japan and China will benefit from a genuine breakthrough in US-China trade relations. We have been preferring Japan to China in recent months, given the longer term issues affecting China’s relations with the West and the slowdown that is now visible in China’s economy.”
Tags: Breakthrough, China, Economy, Japan, Slowdown, Trade relations, U.S.
Forbes (October 28)
“Amid a global slowdown in economic growth that has seen central banks lower interest rates near zero or below in an effort to provide stimulus,” a number of “major economies are on high recession alert.” These include Hong Kong, the U.K., Germany, Italy and China. “Other highly stressed economies around the world include Turkey, Argentina, Iran, Mexico and Brazil.”
Tags: Argentina, Brazil, Central banks, China, Economic growth, Germany, Global slowdown, Hong Kong, Interest rates, Iran, Italy, Mexico, Recession, Stimulus, Stressed, Turkey, U.K.
New York Times (October 20)
“China’s assertive campaign to police discourse about its policies, even outside of its borders, and the acquiescence of American companies eager to make money in China, pose a dangerous and growing threat to one of this nation’s core values: the freedom of expression.” U.S. companies shouldn’t cave. They “have an obligation to defend the freedom of expression, even at the risk of angering China.”
Tags: Assertive, China, Companies, Dangerous, Discourse, Freedom of expression, Obligation, Police, Risk, Threat, U.S.
Bloomberg (October 17)
“The IMF estimates that the U.S.-China trade war has shaved 0.8 percentage points off global growth,” but “the costs of tariffs could prove higher than just an economic slowdown.” The largely neglected threat is that the “slowdown, combined with a decade of ultra-loose monetary policy, could cause a wave of defaults among corporations. This double whammy could threaten the world’s financial stability.”
Tags: China, Costs, Defaults Financial stability, Global growth, IMF, Monetary policy, Slowdown, Tariffs, Trade war, U.S.
