Icbccss&p500usd Discussion Threads

[briarberry] 13/6/2008 12:57

China - does anyone know if China adjusts it's sales figures for inflation ? I'm guessing they don't ???

June 13 (Bloomberg) -- China's retail sales growth stayed close to the fastest pace in at least nine years in May as incomes climbed, underscoring the country's economic strength amid a world slowdown.

Sales soared 21.6 percent to 870.4 billion yuan ($126 billion) after gaining 22 percent in April, the statistics bureau said today.




Chinese food inflation still 19.9% up on last year (and that's just the official figure)
Overall consumer-price growth slowed to 7.7 percent from the almost 12-year high of 8.5 percent in April, the bureau said, confirming a number disclosed by government officials.

[briarberry] 11/6/2008 15:03

June 11 (Bloomberg) -- China's producer-price gains accelerated to the fastest pace in more than three years in May, underscoring the threat that consumer inflation will rebound.

Factory-gate prices rose 8.2 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said today, after gaining 8.1 percent in April.

China's government is trying to prevent demand for materials for earthquake reconstruction work from fanning inflation, today ordering local officials to ensure supplies and curb ``irrational'' price increases. The central bank on June 7 told lenders to set aside more of their deposits as reserves to stop cash in the financial system from stoking price gains.

[knowing] 02/6/2008 09:05

HONG KONG (Thomson Financial) - Hong Kong's retail sales grew 18.7 percent
to HK$22.8 billion ($2.9 billion) in April from a year earlier, as rising
incomes and booming tourism boosted demand for the city's electronics products,
clothes and accessories.
But growth in sales in April slowed from the annual 20 percent rise recorded
for March, the government said Monday.
"Retail sales continued to perform well in April on the back of sustained
strong consumer confidence," said a government spokesman.

[briarberry] 01/6/2008 23:02

China's Manufacturing Pace Slows on Weaker Exports (Update2)
By Li Yanping and Josephine Lau

June 1 (Bloomberg) -- Manufacturing in China, the world's fastest-growing major economy, expanded at a slower pace in May as export growth weakened.

The Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 53.3 from a record 59.2 in April, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said today in an e-mailed statement.

The index of export orders fell to 53.4 from 58.9. The index of new orders declined to 55.4 from 65. The output index dropped to 55.7 from 66.5.

The measure of input prices fell to 73.9 from 75.1, the highest on record, the federation said.

[briarberry] 14/5/2008 15:26

May 14 (Bloomberg) -- China's industrial production growth slowed by more than economists estimated in April as U.S. demand for exports weakened.

Output rose 15.7 percent from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said today, after climbing 17.8 percent in March. The median estimate of 27 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 17.5 percent increase.

Cement output grew 11 percent in April, slowing from the 26 percent pace in March. Electricity production rose 13 percent, less than the previous 17 percent increase.

[briarberry] 13/5/2008 15:04

China Retail Sales Rise at Fastest Pace Since 1999

May 13 (Bloomberg) -- China's retail sales climbed at the fastest pace since at least 1999, signaling that domestic consumption may help to buffer the world's fourth-biggest economy against an export slowdown.

Sales rose 22 percent to a record 814.2 billion yuan ($116 billion) in April after gaining 21.5 percent in March, the statistics bureau said today.

Petroleum sales climbed 45 percent, jewelry rose 41 percent, and grain and cooking oil jumped 36 percent, today's report showed.

-------------

China to Shut Mines, Oil Wells, Plants, After Quake

May 13 (Bloomberg) -- China ordered coal mines, chemical plants and oil and gas wells to halt production in areas affected by the country's strongest earthquake in 58 years to avoid further damage and casualties.

Companies must evacuate workers and can't resume output until conditions allow for safe operations, the Beijing-based State Administration of Work Safety said on its Web site today. PetroChina Co. and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. are among companies operating in Sichuan province, where yesterday's 7.9 magnitude temblor was focused.

The earthquake, which killed almost 10,000 people, damaged power plants and transmission lines and may cut the nation's energy demand. About 5.5 gigawatts, almost 1 percent of China's generation capacity, were idled in Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces, the official Xinhua News Agency said yesterday, citing data from State Grid Corp. of China. Sichuan lost 4 gigawatts of capacity.

[briarberry] 12/5/2008 14:57

May 12 (Bloomberg) -- China's vehicle sales rose 14 percent in April, the slowest pace in almost two years, as a combination of inflation and a slumping stock market curbed demand for passenger cars.

Sales of passenger cars and commercial vehicles rose to 922,600 in April, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said in an e-mailed statement today. Vehicle sales grew at a rate of 21 percent in the first three months of the year.

[briarberry] 12/5/2008 14:54

China Inflation Quickens; Close to Fastest Since 1996

May 12 (Bloomberg) -- China's inflation accelerated to close to the fastest pace since 1996 as food prices soared and the government slowed gains by the yuan.

Consumer prices rose 8.5 percent in April from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said today, after gaining 8.3 percent in March. That topped the 8.2 percent median estimate of 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Food prices jumped 22 percent, a threat to social stability as the world's most populous nation prepares to host the Olympic Games this summer. Faster currency appreciation, while reducing import costs, also risks attracting more speculative funds into an economy flooded with cash.

[briarberry] 07/5/2008 14:36

May 7 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of China Ltd., the only yuan clearing bank in Hong Kong, said it raised transaction costs for conversions between the Hong Kong dollar and the yuan more than sevenfold.

Bank of China's Hong Kong branch widened the spread between the cost of buying and selling Hong Kong dollars for the Chinese currency to 0.75 percentage point from 0.10 point on May 5, said Clarina Man, spokeswoman at the bank. A Hong Kong Monetary Authority spokesman, who asked not to be identified, said he was aware of the increase in interbank settlement fees.

China needs to slow surging inflows of cash betting on yuan appreciation, including deposits from Hong Kong, Li Yang, a former central bank adviser, told a conference in Beijing last week. China's foreign-exchange reserves rose to a record $1.68 trillion at the end of March, fueling concern money supply growth will hamper the government's efforts to damp inflation close to the fastest in 11 years.

[briarberry] 03/5/2008 21:20

Will this effect their economy like SARS?

"There are noticeably very few children or infants on the street," said a 24-year-old student from Fuyang who asked not to be quoted by name. "Even some adults are afraid to step out."

Enterovirus-71 has killed 23 children, sickened 4,000 others. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam also have outbreaks. Beijing seeks to avoid coverup charges as Olympics near.

By Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
11:00 AM PDT, May 3, 2008

BEIJING -- The Chinese Health Ministry issued a nationwide alert today over a virus that has killed 23 children and sickened more than 4,000 others, as it scrambled to fend off a potential scandal over a coverup.

[briarberry] 24/4/2008 14:34

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- China's stocks surged, sending the Shanghai Composite Index to its biggest gain in more than six years, after the government cut a tax on equity trading to stem a slump that had erased $1.7 trillion of market value.

The Shanghai index rose as much as 9.6 percent, the most since Oct. 23, 2001. The government of China, home to the world's fourth-largest equity market, stepped in to bolster stocks two days after the benchmark measure sank to less than 50 percent of its October record amid concern corporate earnings growth will slow and new share sales will overwhelm demand.

[energyi] 23/4/2008 03:31

Greentown China's profit fell 27% to Rmb 923.4 mn (hk$1.03 billion)

+ Turnover dropped 10.3 percent to Rmb5.74bn, net profit margin fell from 44% to 36%
+ Final div is down 11 percent to hk 32 cents
+ Shanghai East Plaza (largest of 4 projects) delayed, because of problems in resettling people
+ property sales could reach 23 bn yuan, up 53 % from 2006
+ Finance costs jumped 238% to 217.3million, while net debt rose to 8.37 bn,
and the net debt ratio rose from 74% to 88%

[energyi] 15/4/2008 07:35

STRANGE DAY...

The SCMP has two big stories in the Business section:

+ US$80 billion of hot inflows into China are 'no hype'

+ Investors flee stocks on global economic fears - Shanghai leads sell-off

Looking at the detail, you see "mainland properties take a hammering"

== developer=========== Price : Day chg. YTD chg.
- Guangzhou R&F properties .. $19.50 -11.36% : -29.86%
- KWG Property Holding.......... $ 6.54 - 9.17% : -43.13%
- Beijing Capital Land.............. $ 3.00 - 8.54% : -36.71%
- Shanghai Forte Land............. $ 3.00 - 7.12% : -29.70%
- China Overseas Land 7 Inv... $14.28 - 5.56% : -35.64%
- Soho China........................... $ 4.65 - 4.71% : -42.24%
- NewWorld China Land............ $ 5.26 - 3.66% : -24.86%
- Fosun International................ $ 5.32 - 3.45% : -27.12%
- Country Garden Holdings........ $ 6.75 - 3.02% : -25.17%

Doesnt make much sense to me: billions of hot money flowing in, while stocks are sliding,
andproperty stocks are sliding fastest.

[briarberry] 13/4/2008 16:43

China drought leaves 670,000 without drinking water
Posted 3 hours 9 minutes ago

A drought in China's north-east Liaoning province has left nearly 700,000 people without drinking water after rainfall in the first three months of 2008 tumbled to one-fifth levels last year, the Xinhua agency said.

The area is a top grain producer, and maize and rice farming is due to begin next week, but from January to the end of March it had got less than 2 centimetres of rain.

Some 66 reservoirs have dried up, but the area has raised cash to build 1,700 new wells and expand and upgrade water conservation systems to try and ensure spring planting can go ahead, Xinhua said, citing local sources.

[briarberry] 03/4/2008 00:12

The Shanghai composite index has plunged 45 percent from its high, reached last October. The first quarter of this year, which ended Monday with a huge sell-off, was the worst ever for the market.

Other parts of Asia are as bad, or worse. In India, stock prices have plunged 31 percent in Mumbai; they are off 31 percent in Japan and a whopping 53 percent in Vietnam, another booming economy. Angry investors have burned a securities regulator in effigy in Mumbai, and some are in tears in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

"Some of them have cried," says Nguyen Quang Tri, 74, a retired cement company manager who was visiting a Ho Chi Minh City brokerage house this week. "I have my own equity, but most of the people here borrowed money from the bank."

The market mayhem began after concerns grew late last year about inflation at home and an American financial crisis. Now, even though China's economy is growing at its fastest pace in over a decade, stock prices have fallen back to earth, crushing small investors on the way down.

[energyi] 31/3/2008 02:53

Home Prices in Tainhe (Guangzhou) keep plummeting // ((even crashing!!))
Real estate costs could drop even more in 2008
===================================

Residential property prices fell an average of 5,230 yuan ($747.14) per square meter last month in Guangzhou's Tienhe district, a business centrer in the Guangdong provincial capital.

The average price for commercial apartments in the Tianhe district now stands at 10,385 per square meter, compared with 15,615 per square meter in January, a drop of 33.5 percent (!!)

Residential property prices have now fallen to their lowest point in two years, according to a report recently released by the Guangzhou Land Resources and Housing Management Bureau.
. . .

+ The average prices of residential properties in: Liwan, Baiyun, Yuexiu, Huangpu, Laogang, and Panyu also saw a drop in February.

+ The average prices in the southern metropolis have come to 9,303 yuan a square meter, compare with more than 10,000 yuan a square meter in January, and the peak of 11,574 yuan a square meter last October.

Predictions in the China Daily article were than prices could drop to no more than 8,000 yuan by year end.

[briarberry] 05/3/2008 17:09

March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of China Ltd., the nation's third biggest, has reduced its holdings of securities tied to U.S. subprime mortgages, Chairman Xiao Gang said today.

The Beijing-based bank still holds subprime mortgage-backed debt, after selling some of its investments, Xiao said in the Chinese capital, where he is attending parliamentary meetings. Bank of China will pursue a ``tight'' lending policy, he said.

Bank of China's stock has fallen 35.5 percent since Oct. 30, when it posted profit growth that was slower than rivals due to losses on $7.95 billion of subprime-related investments.

[mcbeanburger] 19/2/2008 15:55

no doubt on food inflation - snow storm and all.

[briarberry] 19/2/2008 15:52

China's inflation rate jumps 7.1% in January, an 11-year high

Last Update: 2/19/2008 5:05:00 AM

China's inflation rate climbed its highest level in more than 11 years in January, raising concerns that the government might further tighten credit to prevent an inflationary spiral.

[don muang] 12/2/2008 21:56

Hamsters have become the must-have pet in China since the Year of the Rat began on 7 February.

[briarberry] 30/1/2008 16:09

no end to food price inflation ???


Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Rain and snowstorms in China have ``severely'' damaged rapeseed, vegetables, wheat and other crops in 16 provinces, hampering the government's measures to increase agricultural production and curb inflation.

As much as 103 million mu (17 million acres) of crops were damaged, including 1.8 million acres that were completely destroyed, and the damage may spread as more storms are expected, the ministry of agriculture said in a statement on its Web site.

China boosted farming subsidies last year to increase food production as meat and oilseed shortages stoked inflation and threatened social stability.

[briarberry] 19/1/2008 01:04

Spongebob in china :)