Last February, as Chinese stocks and the Yuan were crashing every day, sending the S&P tumbling and government bond yields crashing to record lows, in the process aborting the Fed's first attempt to hike rates, volatility was soaring and confidence in the economy was in the dumps: in short, the bottom appeared like it was about to fall off.
Back in late 2015, when the Chinese stock bubble had violently burst and was suffering daily moves of 10% in either direction as retail traders scrambled to get out of what until recently was a "sure thing", Beijing did what it does best, and found a convenient scapegoat on which to blame the market crash - which was function of the country's relentless debt bubble and lack of trading regulations - in late 2015 it arrested one of the most prominent hedge fund traders, Xu Xiang, also known as “hedge fund brother No.
Having long been advocates of Bitcoin (ever since Sept. 2015 when it traded at $230) for the simple reason that we were confident the digital currency would eventually become China's favorite means of circumventing capital controls - precisely as has transpired - two months ago we warned that the unprecedented surge which made bitcoin the best performing asset in the past year with a 5x return, may be ending as "China Prepares To Impose Curbs, "Capital Controls" On Bitcoin."
Last week the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) launched a new English website to offer international customers more information and tools on trading gold in renminbi through its subsidiary in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone the Shanghai International Gold Exchange (SGEI). BullionStar took the opportunity to translate a speech by a Teng Wei, Deputy General Manager of the SGEI, named “How China’s Gold Market Can Help The RMB Achieve International Status” that was held at the Renminbi World summit in Beijing on the 29th and 30th of November 2016.
With most global market closed for Christmas holiday, and traders taking the day and the week off, global stocks traded mixed in thin, subdued conditions as the dollar dipped against the yen, with the USDJPY sliding for a fourth straight day to 117, while the EUR was flat at 1.0450, taking stock of the US 10Y yield which closed lower on Friday.