Well, don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Just yesterday, in the course of documenting the largest ponzi scheme the world has ever known (in terms of number of victims), we remarked that if China’s beleaguered masses needed yet another excuse to rise up and stage massive street protests, they got one in the form of online P2P lender Ezubao, which defrauded nearly a million people.
Last summer, China unleashed an unprecedented array of measures - up to and including the arrest of "malicious short sellers" and prominent hedge fund mangers - to prevent its stock market bubble from bursting. It failed. A few months later, the chaos has spilled over from the relative containment of the capital markets and has engulfed not only the country's FX reserves, and capital account, but also the entire economy.
It certainly does feel like groundhog day today because while last week's near record oil surge is long forgotten, and one can debate the impact the result of last night's Iowa primary which saw Trump disappoint to an ascendant Ted Cruz while Hillary and Bernie were practically tied, one thing is certain: today's continued decline in crude, which has seen Brent and WTI both tumble by over 3% has once again pushed global stocks and US equity futures lower, offsetting the euphoria from last night's earnings beat by Google which made Alphabet the largest company in th
It’s now been nearly a year since the world woke up to what Beijing was doing in the South China Sea.
Early in 2015, satellite images seemed to show that China had embarked on a rather ambitious land reclamation effort in the Spratlys a disputed island chain claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan.
As the months wore on it became readily apparent that this was no small project. Ultimately, China would build 3,000 acres of new sovereign territory atop reefs in the area much to the chagrin of Washington’s regional allies.
When it comes to all things China, the old adage “go big or go home” certainly applies.
The country’s monumental expansion in the wake of the financial crisis was financed by borrowing on a massive scale, as the country’s debt burden rose from “just” $7 trillion in 2007 to more than $28 trillion today. That’s big.
Last year, at the peak of the country’s equity bubble, margin financing outstanding amounted to 18% of the SHCOMP’s free float market cap. Also big.