Market

Expert: China has the funds to handle the real estate crisis without affecting the rest of the world.
12Sep By Online DeskNo Comments
Asia, China, Market, World

Expert: China has the funds to handle the real estate crisis without affecting the rest of the world.

China’s property market remains the biggest downside risk to its economic growth target this year, with policymakers seemingly not in a hurry to make significant changes because its impact is mostly confined to the world’s second-largest economy, according to the chief economist for a global ratings agency. “China has the savings to deal with this. It’s not really spilling over too much to the rest of the world,” said Paul Gruenwald, global chief economist at S&P Global Ratings. “So they’re not going to be forced into dealing with the property excesses by any external or market pressure. They can do it at their own time, but we are not at the bottom yet.” In May, China unveiled wide-ranging measures to stabilise its property sector, which has been in contraction sin...
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Chip shortage hits Huawei’s Mate70 manufacturing
11Sep mmBy Michael SmithNo Comments
China, Market

Chip shortage hits Huawei’s Mate70 manufacturing

Huawei Technologies, based in Shenzhen, is facing challenges in securing enough high-end chips for its upcoming Mate70 smartphone. This struggle is a direct result of the ongoing the trade war against China which includes thechip war also. Both Huawei and its partner, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), are under US sanctions. They aimed to produce 2.5 million chips for the Mate70's September launch but fell short due to limited manufacturing capacity and productivity issues. According to The Information, the primary reason for this shortfall is the persistent impact of a four-year-old US ban on supplying chip manufacturing tools to Huawei and SMIC.  Initially, it was expected that Huawei would launch the Mate70 in China on September 10, a day after Apple's ...
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10Sep By Online DeskNo Comments
Market, USA, World

US employment vacancies are declining; learn more about economics.

1. US job openings decline Job openings in the United States fell to a 3.5-year low in July, which suggests the labour market is losing steam. The number of unfilled jobs, shown in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), fell to its lowest since May 2021. It meant there were 1.07 open positions for every unemployed person in July. Investors and policymakers are watching the labour market closely, after four monthly increases in the unemployment rate stoked fears of a recession. "The labour market is still in pretty good shape, but it has cooled dramatically over the last year and a half," Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank, told Reuters. "Most Americans who want jobs have them, but there are fewer opportunities or alternatives for workers who ar...
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Bangladesh was driven by fast fashion, but its struggling economy now needs more
7Sep By Online DeskNo Comments
Asia, Market

Bangladesh was driven by fast fashion, but its struggling economy now needs more

Bangladesh is the beating heart of the global fast fashion business. The clothes its factories export stock the shelves at H&M, Gap and Zara. Over three decades, this has transformed the country from one of the world’s poorest to a lower-middle income nation. But its garment industry, worth $55bn (£42bn) a year, is now facing an unsettled future after weeks of protests toppled the government of Sheikh Hasina in August. Hundreds of people were killed in the unrest. At least four factories were set alight, while manufacturers struggled to operate under a nationwide internet blackout. Already, some big brands have looked elsewhere for next season’s clothes, three firms that help supply to companies such as Disney, US supermarket chain Walmart and other global apparel companies t...
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7Sep By Online DeskNo Comments
Asia, China, Market

Xi is immobilized due to China’s economic chaos. The entire world will compensate.

Just about everyone has a view on China’s economic troubles. Its deepening property crisis, deflationary currents, and increasing protests are all Asia observers can talk about. Yet one very important voice is barely saying a word about the state of Asia’s biggest economy: President Xi Jinping. This is true both rhetorically and by way of policy actions. The deafening silence on the latter front is especially perplexing as virtually every Chinese growth engine—from investment to exports to household spending—sputters. Less quiet are commodity traders bidding down prices of oil, copper, and other commodities as China turns further inward. Hopes for smoke signals from Beijing that fresh stimulus might be coming are being dashed day after day. And keeping global marke...
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3Sep By Online DeskNo Comments
Asia, Market

Quarterly economic overview for Southeast Asia: Holding up well

In the second quarter 2024, the economies of Southeast Asia remained steadfastly resilient and broadly delivered credible economic growth, backed by an improvement in domestic and global demand. Southeast Asia’s economies remained resilient and delivered credible economic performance in the second quarter 2024.1 GDP grew in all economies, with Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam recording the fastest rate of year-on-year (y-o-y) growth over the past four quarters. Indonesia experienced a growth plateau and Singapore grew 0.1 percent slower this quarter compared to the previous quarter (Exhibit 1). Growth drivers were nuanced in every Southeast Asian economy, across a combination of strong consumption, output expansion, and higher exports, following an improvement in global...
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3Sep By Online DeskNo Comments
Asia, Market, USA, World

Global Economic Situation and Outlook Update for September 2024

After years of turbulence and significant volatility in economic output, the world economy is on a more stable trajectory. Global growth performance has held up surprisingly well in the face of recent shocks, including aggressive interest rate hikes by major central banks during 2022–2023 and an escalation of conflicts with international spillovers. Robust consumer spending in several large developed and developing economies – buoyed by high levels of employment, rising real wages, and relatively healthy household balance sheets – has sustained economic resilience. In a large number of economies, inflation has slowed considerably and is approaching central bank targets, providing room for monetary easing. In most cases, economies experienced disinflation without a significant deterioratio...
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30Aug By Online DeskNo Comments
Asia, China, Market

China’s central bank advances interest rate reform, and other economy stories to read this week

1. China's central bank furthers move to market-driven credit China's central bank is shifting its focus from the size of credit to its cost, aiming for a more market-driven interest rate system. However, the transition faces challenges from liquidity risks and uncooperative markets. This move, while crucial for broader financial reforms, is expected to be gradual, with the People's Bank of China facing significant hurdles as it works to balance reform goals with economic stability. "We are moving in the direction of developing market-based interest rates, but it's an arduous task and the road is long," a government adviser told Reuters anonymously. China's factory activity likely contracted for the fourth consecutive month in August, according to a recent Reuters po...
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30Aug By Online DeskNo Comments
Asia, China, Market

How deeply rooted are China’s economic woes?

China’s slowdown shaped by four major problems China’s economy has continued to struggle in 2024, laying to rest any remaining hopes of a strong post-pandemic recovery. Instead of a rapid rebound as many analysts predicted, China’s reopening boom never materialised. It also appears that the Chinese government is not inclined to make major changes to its economic management and the high-profile Third Plenum came and went without significant reforms being announced. The country’s economic trajectory can be traced back to four major issues: first, the real estate market is in a protracted downturn; second, Chinese consumers have held back their spending after the economy reopened; third, deteriorating local government finances threaten a sharp slowdown in investment; and...
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27Aug By Online DeskNo Comments
China, Market

China’s unemployment conundrum and its implications for global trade

China’s unemployment crisis underscores the broader challenges facing the country’s economic model. The combination of a deteriorating economy at home, falling consumption, overcapacity, excessive domestic competition in the labor market, and inadequate policy intervention now threaten China's long-term macroeconomic stability. These factors are stoking trade tensions for China abroad. How bad exactly is unemployment in China? Consider these examples: An increasing number of fresh college graduates are joining the gig economy by taking low-skilled jobs such as delivering food as they struggle to find jobs commensurate with their degrees. The number of people under the age of 25 who applied for manual jobs in the first quarter of 2024 surged 165% compared with the same period in 2019....
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