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China FDI data indicates sharp slowdown in February

BEIJING (Reuters) – China drew $19.3 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first two months of 2014, up 10.4 percent from a year earlier, the Commerce Ministry said on Tuesday, indicating a sharp slowdown in February due to the Lunar New Year holidays. Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang told a media briefing that the ministry did not release data for February alone due to seasonal distortions caused by the Lunar New Year holidays, when factories, offices and shops often close for long periods. Based on the published data, FDI in February alone was $8.6 billion, up 4.1 percent from a year earlier, slowing sharply from a 16.1 percent increase in January. FDI from the top 10 Asian economies rose 11.6 percent in the first two months to $16.9 billion, while investment from the United States jumped 43.3 percent to $711 million and investment from the European Union fell […]

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China Crude Processing Falls to Four-Month Low on Weak Demand

China refined the least crude in four months as fuel demand in the world’s second-largest oil consumer slowed amid a cooling economy. Processing in the January-to-February period fell 1 percent from a year earlier to 78.78 million metric tons, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement on its website today. That’s equivalent to an average of 9.79 million barrels a day, the lowest rate since October. The bureau in Beijing combines data for the two months, citing distortions from the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, whose timing differs each year. Refiners are cutting oil processing as the pace of China’s economic expansion slows. Benchmark U.S. crude futures dropped the past three days, the longest losing streak in more than two months, after data on March 8 showed an 18.1 percent slump in exports. Industrial output rose 8.6 percent in January-February from a year earlier, the weakest for […]

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China output and retail data adds to slowdown fears

China’s industrial output rose 8.6% in January and February, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Retail sales – a key measure of consumer spending – also increased 11.8% from the year before, government figures show. The figures were less than analysts had been expecting, adding to fears of a slowdown. Markets in Asia fell on the news, with both Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and the Shanghai composite dropping. Fixed-asset investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, expanded 17.9%. The reporting period includes the Chinese Lunar New Year, which fell during both months. Threat continues The data comes as China’s leaders wrap up their parliamentary session, known as the National People’s Congress (NPC). During the session, the government unveiled plans to push ahead with a pilot programme of privately-owned banks, in order to help open up the financial sector. At the start of the NPC earlier this month, […]

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China Slowdown Is Rocking Raw Materials

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in April traded at $99.41 a barrel at 0455 GMT, down $0.62 in the Globex electronic session. April Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.31 to $108.24 a barrel. Nymex WTI crude extended losses and traded below $100 a barrel while Brent crude gave up overnight gains and moved into negative territory as concerns over a slowdown in China dominated market sentiment. "Global risk sentiment remained somewhat fragile on the back of lingering concerns over Chinese GDP growth," Singapore-based OCBC Bank said in a report. The slide in oil prices wasn’t as pronounced as prices of industrial metals like copper. Markets expect China’s industrial production data due on Thursday to provide more cues. China’s fuel consumption has been increasingly driven by the transport sector and industrial fuels like diesel has seen limited growth with oil […]

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New Cold War Would Differ From Old

RUSSIA had some real economic problems even before the Ukrainian crisis led the United States and European countries to threaten sanctions on the country after the Russian flag was raised in Crimea, a part of Ukraine, and troops who spoke Russian appeared to take over a significant part of the region. Russia’s growth had slowed to almost nothing: Its real gross national product in the third quarter of 2013 was just 0.6 percent larger than it had been a year earlier. The ruble was weak. Its manufacturers appeared to be doing much worse than competitors in other countries. Its stock market has trailed markets in most other countries over the last year. If this is a new incarnation of the Cold War, it will be very different from the old one. Back then, the Soviet Union and the members of its empire were in some ways in their own […]

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Weather restrains U.S. private hiring, services sector growth

U.S. private employers added fewer workers than expected in February and services sector growth slowed, the latest signs that severe weather continues to be a drag on the economy. The ADP National Employment Report showed on Wednesday that private payrolls increased by 139,000 jobs last month. January’s job count was revised sharply down to 127,000 from the previously reported 175,000. Last month’s increase was below economists’ expectations for a gain of 160,000 jobs. "Bad winter weather, especially in mid-month, weighed on payrolls. Job growth is expected to improve with warmer temperatures," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Moody’s Analytics jointly develops the report with payrolls processor ADP. The report was released ahead of the government’s comprehensive employment report on Friday. With unusually cold weather blamed for the weak private sector hiring, the report raised the prospect of a third straight […]

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China Retains 7.5% Growth Target for 2014

ages China retained a target for economic growth of about 7.5 percent in 2014, signaling limits on the leadership’s efforts to curb pollution and credit expansion in the world’s second-largest economy. The goal was given in a work report that Premier Li Keqiang delivered to the annual meeting of the legislature today in Beijing. Li said the nation needs stable growth to ensure jobs. Inflation and money-supply targets also matched those of 2013. Maintaining a pace of expansion close to last year’s 7.7 percent would help sustain demand for oil and iron ore and support a global economy that’s forecast by the International Monetary Fund to accelerate. At the same time, analysts from UBS AG to Societe Generale SA say a lower goal would’ve been more in keeping with the government’s pledge to move away from growth at all costs. “It is going to be very […]

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China's manufacturing, services sectors diverge in February

China’s services sector regained some momentum in February but its manufacturing sector struggled, separate surveys showed on Monday, with the divergence adding to the difficulty in assessing the strength of the economy at the start of 2014. Data for the world’s second-largest economy has been mixed, and the Lunar New Year holidays have made it harder to assess momentum. Weak investment and declining manufacturing PMI readings have been countered by surprisingly buoyant exports and bank lending. The official non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to a three-month high of 55.0 in February, while the final Markit/HSBC manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 48.5, its third straight decline. That followed an official manufacturing PMI on Saturday which fell to an eight-month low of 50.2, just above the 50 level that separates contraction from expansion. "It’s a domestic investment-led slowdown. You see exports strong, so external demand is […]

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China’s manufacturing, services sectors diverge in February

China’s services sector regained some momentum in February but its manufacturing sector struggled, separate surveys showed on Monday, with the divergence adding to the difficulty in assessing the strength of the economy at the start of 2014. Data for the world’s second-largest economy has been mixed, and the Lunar New Year holidays have made it harder to assess momentum. Weak investment and declining manufacturing PMI readings have been countered by surprisingly buoyant exports and bank lending. The official non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to a three-month high of 55.0 in February, while the final Markit/HSBC manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 48.5, its third straight decline. That followed an official manufacturing PMI on Saturday which fell to an eight-month low of 50.2, just above the 50 level that separates contraction from expansion. "It’s a domestic investment-led slowdown. You see exports strong, so external demand is […]

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Fourth-quarter growth cut to 2.4 percent

The U.S. government slashed its estimate for fourth-quarter growth as consumer spending and exports were less robust than initially thought, leaving the economy on a more sustainable path of modest expansion. Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.4 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Friday. That was down sharply from the 3.2 percent pace reported last month and the 4.1 percent logged in the third quarter. Economists polled by Reuters had expected growth would be cut to a 2.5 percent pace. It is not unusual for the government to make sharp revisions to GDP numbers, as it does not have complete data when it makes its initial estimates. In fact, the latest figures will be subject to revisions next month as more information is received. The revision left GDP just above the economy’s potential growth trend, which analysts put somewhere between a 2 percent […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple