Category:

Coal group’s woes threaten China’s trust industry

A Chinese mining boss who threw a multimillion-dollar wedding for his daughter last year is now struggling under a pile of debts that threaten to trigger a major default in the country’s shadow banking industry. Until a few weeks ago Xing Libin was known as the wealthiest man in Liulin, a county in northern China that struck it rich over the past decade thanks to bulging coal deposits. Looking more like a tousled professor than a slick tycoon, Mr Xing acquired mining rights for what local media said was “the price of a cabbage” and built his unlisted company, Liansheng Resources Group, into a big player in the Chinese coal industry. Mr Xing put his success on display in March 2012 at a Rmb70m ($11m) party to jointly celebrate his daughter’s wedding and his company’s 10th anniversary. He rented three aircraft to fly family and friends to the resort […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

China's manufacturing PMI eases to 3-month low: HSBC

China’s manufacturing activity expanded in December, but growth slowed to a three-month low, according to HSBC’S preliminary purchasing managers’ index (PMI) released on Monday. The HSBC flash manufacturing PMI for December eased to 50.5, compared to 50.8 in November and 50.9 in October. However, the figure still remained above the boom-bust line of 50, HSBC said in a report. Growth in the new order and new export order sub-indices increased at a faster pace, while employment decreased at a faster rate compared with the preceding month, it said. According to Qu Hongbin, chief China economist with HSBC, the December HSBC flash manufacturing PMI reading slowed marginally from November’s final reading, but stands above the average reading for the third quarter, "implying that the recovering trend of the manufacturing sector starting from July still holds up." "We expect China’s GDP growth to stabilize at around […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

China’s manufacturing PMI eases to 3-month low: HSBC

China’s manufacturing activity expanded in December, but growth slowed to a three-month low, according to HSBC’S preliminary purchasing managers’ index (PMI) released on Monday. The HSBC flash manufacturing PMI for December eased to 50.5, compared to 50.8 in November and 50.9 in October. However, the figure still remained above the boom-bust line of 50, HSBC said in a report. Growth in the new order and new export order sub-indices increased at a faster pace, while employment decreased at a faster rate compared with the preceding month, it said. According to Qu Hongbin, chief China economist with HSBC, the December HSBC flash manufacturing PMI reading slowed marginally from November’s final reading, but stands above the average reading for the third quarter, "implying that the recovering trend of the manufacturing sector starting from July still holds up." "We expect China’s GDP growth to stabilize at around […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Insight: Wall Street's energy rivals – Big Oil, a French utility, the Koch brothers

As a historic oil and gas boom transforms the U.S. energy sector, Wall Street is losing the battle to remain the partner of choice for energy producers and major consumers seeking to protect themselves against volatile prices. In the thriving Texas Permian oil patch and beyond, banks are being edged out by a handful of the world’s biggest corporations including BP Plc, Cargill and Koch Industries. With Wall Street hamstrung by growing regulatory restrictions, a recently finalized ban on proprietary trading and increased capital requirements, these corporate behemoths are leveraging their robust balance sheets and savvy global trading desks to capture as much as a quarter of the global multibillion-dollar market for hedging commodity prices. New risks have arisen this year that could tilt the scales further, as the Federal Reserve considers limiting banks’ ability to trade in real physical markets, the kind of deals […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Insight: Wall Street’s energy rivals – Big Oil, a French utility, the Koch brothers

As a historic oil and gas boom transforms the U.S. energy sector, Wall Street is losing the battle to remain the partner of choice for energy producers and major consumers seeking to protect themselves against volatile prices. In the thriving Texas Permian oil patch and beyond, banks are being edged out by a handful of the world’s biggest corporations including BP Plc, Cargill and Koch Industries. With Wall Street hamstrung by growing regulatory restrictions, a recently finalized ban on proprietary trading and increased capital requirements, these corporate behemoths are leveraging their robust balance sheets and savvy global trading desks to capture as much as a quarter of the global multibillion-dollar market for hedging commodity prices. New risks have arisen this year that could tilt the scales further, as the Federal Reserve considers limiting banks’ ability to trade in real physical markets, the kind of deals […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

In China, Western Companies Cut Jobs as Growth Ebbs

After years of rapid expansion in China, some Western companies are shedding jobs as the world’s second-largest economy grows at its lowest rate in more than 20 years. Hewlett-Packard Co. says it is laying off a small percentage of its workforce in China, which the company calls one of its most important markets. Johnson & Johnson is cutting its pharmaceutical sales force by an undisclosed amount, people close to the company say. Software-services provider Bsquare Corp. BSQR -1.21% BSQUARE Corp. U.S.: Nasdaq $ 3.26 -0.04 -1.21% Dec. 12, 2013 3:59 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 11,225 P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap $37.07 Million Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $382,303 More quote details and news » BSQR in Your Value Your Change Short position is shutting its Beijing office, the Bellevue, Wash., company said in October, two months after telling analysts that "sales productivity was not up to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Strong China retail data defy predictions of slowdown

As China GDP Figures Are Released China’s economy is riding its strong momentum into the end of the year, with retail sales accelerating and industrial output slowing just a touch in November. Following on previous figures that showed a jump in exports and subdued inflation, the data published on Tuesday confirmed that the world’s second-largest economy remained in good health and had once again defied predictions for a more pronounced slowdown . Just a few months ago, analysts had expected that Chinese economic growth would tail off more sharply in the fourth quarter, but for now it appears to be close to its 7.8 per cent year-on-year pace of the third quarter. Industrial output increased 10 per cent in November from a year earlier, down from 10.3 per cent in October but above its average this year. Annual growth in fixed-asset investment edged down to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

China's 2014 growth in focus as leaders met on reform plans

China’s leaders began mapping out their economic and reform plans for 2014 behind closed doors on Tuesday, and would have drawn confidence from data showing the economy has sustained momentum from a mid-year pick-up into the final quarter. Even as the government’s 7.5 percent growth target for this year looks increasingly secure, some advisors think it may not issue a specific target for 2014 in order to have more room to pursue reforms intended to lead to more sustainable growth. The government has repeatedly said it has the appetite to overhaul the world’s second-largest economy, and last month outlined an ambitious agenda for the next decade, but it has also shown a distaste for growth slowing towards 7 percent. Top government think tanks, which make policy proposals, were still debating whether the growth target should be cut to 7 percent in 2014 from this year’s 7.5 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

China’s 2014 growth in focus as leaders met on reform plans

China’s leaders began mapping out their economic and reform plans for 2014 behind closed doors on Tuesday, and would have drawn confidence from data showing the economy has sustained momentum from a mid-year pick-up into the final quarter. Even as the government’s 7.5 percent growth target for this year looks increasingly secure, some advisors think it may not issue a specific target for 2014 in order to have more room to pursue reforms intended to lead to more sustainable growth. The government has repeatedly said it has the appetite to overhaul the world’s second-largest economy, and last month outlined an ambitious agenda for the next decade, but it has also shown a distaste for growth slowing towards 7 percent. Top government think tanks, which make policy proposals, were still debating whether the growth target should be cut to 7 percent in 2014 from this year’s 7.5 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Heinberg: Snake Oil and the End of Growth

The last newsletter of 2013 brings together an essay, an interview, and a blog post, all with the common theme of the intersection between economic growth and energy. Thank you for your support in 2013, and my very best wishes for the Holidays and the New Year. Richard Preface to the Romanian edition of Snake Oil In the United States, fracking is widely regarded as the biggest energy development in decades, a revolution that is making America self-sufficient in oil and natural gas. Now the petroleum industry wants to bring fracking to Europe, and promises equally grand results. But there is a problem: if we look beyond mere claims and promises, and examine the actual data on environmental impacts and on oil and gas production potential, the shale revolution in America is revealed to be a costly, destructive project whose benefits are short-lived. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple