China economy

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How the China Yuan Devaluation Is Dragging Down the Markets

yuan devaluation

Countless factors influence the global financial markets, but right now the biggest one is China's yuan devaluation.

Ever since August, when the Chinese central bank shocked the markets with a steep yuan devaluation, the Chinese currency has exerted a powerful - and mostly downward - pull on stocks.

Here's why the yuan carries so much weight - and what will happen next...

[CHART] You'll Never Guess Who Surpassed China's GDP Growth Rate

China's GDP growth

China boasts the world's second-largest economy. It is the largest trading nation in the world, the largest manufacturing economy, the largest exporter, and has the world's fastest growing consumer market. The country produces and uses 60% of the world's cement, 46% of the world's coal, and its railway tracks could twice circle the earth.

But China's GDP growth rate is slowing, now on track to slip to a 25-year low in 2015 of under 7%.

And this unlikely economic force is growing. It out-earned China's economy by 40% in 2014 alone...

No One Believes China's GDP Numbers... But They're Not The Real Takeaway

China’s GDP

China reported its most recent GDP figures as 6.9% growth versus the officially targeted 7% everybody was expecting.

Now the media's going to spend the next 72 hours talking about that China's GDP "miss" as if it's a real number. Ignore them.

Instead, focus on the data I'm going to share with you today. China's going to fuel the world's best businesses for decades to come.

And, in the process of doing so, create yet another round of millionaires. I want you to be one of them.

China's Inflation Is Rising - but All Eyes Are on Deflationary Risks

China

The latest data out of China today shows China’s inflation is rising. However, it’s China’s deflation risks that have everyone talking.

The National Bureau of Statics said today (Thursday) that China’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 2% year over year in August and reached a one-year high.

But that wasn't the only statistic investors are eying today...

The Economic "Red Wedding" Begins

DJIA futures

I love being right...Does that make me a bad person?

I have been warning for months that the market is overvalued, that the global economy is sick, and that stocks are headed for a fall. While CNBC and the rest of the clueless bulls break out the arm-bands, readers at Money Morning - who have been paying attention - should not have been surprised by what happened last week.

The collapse in commodity prices that began a year ago was a raging canary in the coal mine, screaming that something was wrong in the global economy. And that was the faltering of Chinese growth, which all along had been built on a fragile foundation of debt.

But these numbers don't convey the hard, cold reality of the losses. Let's put some meat on the bones.

WARNING: China’s New “World Bank” Threatens U.S. Dollar

china's new world bank

China has just made another strike against the U.S. dollar with a new “world bank” – the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

By now 57 countries have been approved to join forces in this $50 billion global economic “superpower” cooperative – and the United States is not one of them.

Here’s what China’s new world bank means for the U.S. dollar in 2015…

The Chinese and U.S. Economies Are Bubble-Thin

us economy

The Shanghai Composite Index soared by 8% last week to its highest level since 2008 and is up about 130% over the last year.

The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped by 12% last week and is up 166% over the same period and is now trading at 66x earnings according to Bloomberg, three times the level of the Shanghai Index.

How do you spell "bubble" in Chinese?

Full story here...

The Golden Yuan Is Coming - Here's How to Play It

The U.S. dollar has been the world's de facto reserve currency for almost 90 years.

But this financial dominance may be nearing its end.

In recent years, China's been floating the idea the yuan should take on the dollar's role as the world's reserve currency.

In fact, the Chinese have already negotiated numerous bilateral trade deals that completely bypass it.

And they've even called for efforts to "de-Americanize" the global economy.

Whatever happens, China's economic rise foreshadows increased influence.

It's a trend that not only has serious implications, but also great profit opportunities, if you know what to expect...

Why Jim Chanos is Wrong About China's "Ghost Cities"

China's "ghost cities" present the West with the shocking images of vast urban areas that sit nearly empty.

In a striking report, shown recently on CBS News' "60 Minutes,"there are rows of high-rise apartment buildings, tracts full of suburban American-sized detached homes and  imposing government edifices in China's western  desert that are empty and utterly devoid of any signs of life.

Their existence has raised more than a few red flags among investors.

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These Mining Companies Will Profit from China's Good News

China announced industrial production data for October today (Friday), showing industrial value-added up 9.6% year-on-year, up from 9.2% in September and 8.9% in August.

This is great news for mining companies.

"Data out today provides convincing evidence that the modest macro recovery we've been anticipating is well underway," wrote Shanghai-based Andy Rothman, China Macro Strategist for CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. "Industrial value-added, power generation, retail sales and new home sales all improved in October, while inflation remains so low that it is not a policy factor."

Infrastructure investment in October was up 24.9% year-on-year, continuing the rebound begun in September.

Rothman explained, "...this infrastructure rebound is the result of the government fixing approval and financing bottlenecks for projects originally scheduled to be built this year, not due to a stimulus."

Looking at prices, industrial input prices fell by 1.7% year-on-year in October, an improvement from the 4.1% decline seen in September.

"We are starting to see a bit of a bump up in both input and output prices, which is consistent with our view that the growth rate of industrial inventory levels has slowed and a modest macro recovery is underway," Rothman concluded.

This has led some economists to believe that this increase in industrial production in China will be positive for commodity prices, including Li-Gang Liu and Hao Zhou who work for Australian bank ANZ.

If this is the case, it'll benefit the global "mega miners" that have seen their share prices tumble since the slowdown in China began back in 2011.

Mining Companies That Benefit from China Demand

BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP), based in Australia, is the world's largest mining company and sells iron ore, base metals, potash, aluminum, metallurgical coal, thermal coal, manganese and oil products to China.

BHP is China's third-largest supplier of iron ore where growing stockpiles in China due to sluggish production had undermined pricing.

But this is starting to change.

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Will President Obama Be Able to Stand Up To China?

While U.S. Presidential headlines dominate the airwaves this week, there is another "election" under way thousands of miles from our own shores that may be even more important when it comes to your money.

The 18th National Party Congress is now underway in Beijing. Attendees are girding for a week of symbolic posturing and speeches, the culmination of which will be a new set of Chinese leaders and a new Chinese President for the next 10 years.

While this is a complicated process when things are running smoothly, this particular Congress is really critical. China is a mess. Recent economic challenges and corruption on a scale that has boggled even the most jaded of insiders are at the top of the "fix it" list.

Outgoing Chinese President Hu Jintao's replacement and China's presumptive new leader looks to be a man named Xi Jinping.

At 59 years old, he's a power player with close ties to the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

While he's not a military man per se, as the son of a revolutionary general he currently holds several significant offices that give him wide-ranging and very significant exposure to both the State and Communist Party.

What's significant about this is that there are three parallel strands in Chinese government structure: the Communist Party, State, and Military.

The Party and State are deeply intertwined, but the military is less so, except at the top levels of leadership. Consequently, China's new leader is intimately familiar with the Chinese military and also the likely new head of China's Central Military Commission.

I'm not so sure we've ever seen this exact combination before and I think it's going to challenge President Barack Obama in ways that he hasn't thought through yet.



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