China

On the surface, the latest Chinese credit data reported overnight by the PBOC was not particularly memorable: new loans tumbled from the near record 1.540TN Yuan in June to only 825.5BN in July, just above the 820BN expected, while Total Social Financing also declined substantially from June's 1.78TN to 1.22TN, also beating the 1TN estimate. While both July prints were a steep drop from June - reflected in Monday's miss in retail sales, industrial production and capex - they were a significant increase from the year ago numbers.

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

Back in February of 2014 we published an interview and report from well known preparedness strategist and strategic relocation expert Joel Skousen in which he explained his assessment of how World War III would “go down.”

 

While the long-term consequences of Trump's first trade war salvo launched today will become obvious only in hindsight, it may have come at an opportune moment: just as China prepares to flood the world with record amounts of steel. Overnight, the National Statistics Bureau reported that even as Beijing intensified its war on smog, local steel output "paradoxically" hit a new monthly record in July, some 74.02 million tonnes, up 10% Y/Y (or 50% more than China's GDP) and higher than the previous record of 73.23 million tonnes set in June.

Today at 3pm, President Trump signed a memo addressing “China’s laws, policies, practices, and actions related to intellectual property, innovation, and technology” effectively firing the first shot in what many predict will blossom into an all-out trade war with China.

As discussed over the weekend, administration officials said Saturday that memo will direct U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to consider investigating China over its IP policies, especially the practice of forcing U.S. companies operating in China to transfer technological know-how.

After learning over the weekend that Trump plans to call for an investigation into China over allegations that the nation violated U.S. intellectual property rights and forced technology transfers, we learn that several Chinese companies may have submitted bids for Fiat Chrysler (FCA) in a deal that would include the company's iconic Jeep brand.  According to AutomotiveNews, at least one Chinese automaker made a bid earlier this month for FCA at a slight premium to the company's prevailing market price but it was rejected for being too low.