![]() ![]() "CBB's revenue and profit margin indices improved for a third-consecutive month in May. And analysts at China Beige Book, a service that surveys Chinese businesses, predict that the retail and service sectors will likely surprise to the upside. Car sales seemed to be recovering, which should cheer Beijing. In a note to clients aptly called "That's It?," the Societe Generale economist Wei Yao calculated that retail-sales growth compared to the month before was basically zero.Īnalysts think May might bring some reprieve. And the property market, which is a key part of government revenue, also stalled out, with land sales falling 22% in the first quarter of 2023. Industrial production, another measure of how much the country is making, grew by 5.9% from the month before - solid but well shy of the 10.6% increase that analysts were expecting. A survey of manufacturing executives by China's National Bureau of Statistics found that activity in the country unexpectedly contracted. In April, China's economic data came in weak largely across the board. It was supposed to be a great time, but it's barely been good. Bank of America's forecast argued that while recessions would grip the rest of the world, China would be a "notable exception" and that country's reopening would be a "reprieve." Expectations for China's growth hit a 17-year high. ![]() ![]() Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs said it was coming. Don't call it a comebackĪnalysts thought that 2023 would provide us with a glorious rally in the Chinese stock market. Instead of the exuberant recovery that Wall Street was expecting, we are witnessing the last gasps of the Chinese economic miracle. "We're expecting a sugar high and some kind of robust growth there for the next six to nine months, but looking out, I do not look at them as a big challenge to the US in terms of economic power and growth." Unless there's a change in power at the top, I think that's going to be a very undynamic economy," he said. "Looking out 10 or 15 years, I just don't see it. The legendary hedge-fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller, a longtime believer in China's growth who described the entrepreneurial energy in the country before COVID as "New York on crack," painted a grim picture of the future for a crowd of attendees at the Bloomberg Invest Conference in June. Other big-time investors are full-on ditching the once-promising country. This is one of those questions where if you have to ask, that in and of itself is a problem. Chinese President Xi Jinping has instead been preparing his people for an era of lower growth, making it clear that's what the economy can achieve in its current state, and it's also the structure he likes.Īnd while Wall Street is trying to put on a good face, banks like JPMorgan are starting to write notes to clients asking if it's even worth investing there. Exports remain key to the economy, but countries that once championed free trade have turned from globalism to protectionism.Īs opposed to slumps in the past, it also does not appear that Beijing is going to step in and reverse this downward trend. China's working-age population is getting old, and there are fewer young people to replace them than at any time in the country's modern history. And because of real estate's central role in the economy, the painful process of absorbing those losses will continue to suck money away from Chinese households, banks, and China's massive web of local governments. The bubble in China's property market finally popped. The mechanisms that drove the "Chinese miracle," a triple-decade transformation that made the country an international force, have broken down. The fizzled reopening isn't just a short-term disappointment, it's a sign that the old China is gone. The private sector - which was expected to drive most of China's bounceback - is running scared. Trading partners are upset for a litany of reasons, from human-rights abuses to concerns about the government's increasing role in the country's commerce. There is debt everywhere, especially in property development, which makes up 30% of the economy. Trade - both imports and exports - has slowed markedly. This was great news for the whole world - everyone would benefit from the globe's second-largest economy getting healthy.īut six months into the year, Wall Street's dreams for the country are turning into a nightmare.įar from an economic explosion, China's recovery from COVID has been weak. The colossus-in-waiting that is the Chinese consumer was about to roam freely, analysts said. After years of lockdowns and suppressed output, economists and investors cheered the end of Beijing's zero-COVID policy and the economic boom that was sure to follow. It often indicates a user profile.Įntering 2023, the relentless drumbeat of Wall Street consensus was pounding out one consistent rhythm: China is back. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. ![]()
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