China

Back in October 2015, roughly around the bottom of the recent commodity cycle, we reported a stunning statistic: more than half of Chinese companies did not generate enough cash flow to even cover the interest on their cash flow, and as we concluded "it is safe to assume that up to two-third of Chinese commodity companies are now at imminent danger of default, as they can't even generate the cash to pay down the interest on their debt, let alone fund repayments."

There is so much excess liquidity in China that an 18-year-old Romanian model has agreed to sell her virginity to a "very friendly" - and generous - Hong Kong businessman for the "life-changing" sum of $2.45 million (€ 2.3 million).

After the best quarter for US stocks since 2015, global equities have started off Q2 on the right foot, despite caution about the upcoming meeting between President Trump and China's Xi Jinping later this week, and Fed Minutes which are expected to be more hawkish than the FOMC statement.

In an interview with the Financial Times coming less than a week ahead of his meeting with China's president Xi Jinping in Mar A Lago (Xi, however, will not be staying at Trump's "Winter palace" as the SCMP reports) Donald Trump has warned the US "will take unilateral action to eliminate the nuclear threat from North Korea unless China increases pressure on the regime in Pyongyang."

China’s ambassador to Canada, Lu Shaye, told the Globe and Mail that Beijing is seeking full access to Canada’s economy ahead of free trade talks, a move that could result in Chinese state-owned companies bringing their own employees to work on projects in Canada. Charles Burton, an associate political science professor at Brock University, said bringing their own workers abroad is “normal practice” for Chinese companies. “It’s not as if [the Chinese] would be asking something of Canada that they don’t expect from other countries,” he said.