Today brings an opportunity to take a fresh look at the economic story of 2020 which is the impact of the Corona Virus on the Chinese and world economies. We can reverse our normal order and look at the financial market impact but before we do so I think we should also note the suffering and deaths behind this.
Jittery investors erased almost $400 billion from Chinese stocks, with the Shanghai Composite index shedding up to 8% to hit a one-year low, according to Reuters calculations.
As you can see the Reuters journalists were unable to resist the temptation of writing a large number ( $400 billion ) in spite of the fact they are using a marginal price for some to value the total. Actually but for the price limits there would have been further falls.
Stocks tumbled across the board, with nearly 3000 stock closing at limit-down price. ( YuanTalks)
Although not every share fell and I guess you will not be suprised to see who did not.
Mask producers and some medical related companies outperformed.
The traditional response to this is for the bond market to rally and it did not disappoint.
#China’s 10-year #treasury futures closed 1.37% up at the highest level in more than 3 years as investors dump risky assets. ( YuanTalks )
This meant that the benchmark ten-year yield pushed below the 3% barrier to 2.86% at the close. So heading towards the levels seen by us Western Imperialist Capitalists.
The exchange rate has a more mixed picture. Whilst the Yuan fell by more than 1% versus the US Dollar this morning and pushed through the 7 Yuan threshold it is also true that we are where we were three months ago. In the circumstances we had seen a surprising stability as whilst there had been plenty of media rhetoric a move from 6.85 to 6.92 was not a lot. So it is over playing it to say it is the dog that did nor bark it has been quiet.
People’s Bank of China
This stepped up to the plate today according to the South China Morning Post.
In the face of the “epidemic situation”, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said on Sunday it would “inject 1.2 trillion yuan via reverse repo operations on February 3 to ensure sufficient liquidity supply.”
“The liquidity of the overall banking system will be 900 billion yuan more than the same period of last year,” the central bank added.It is the first time that the central bank has made such an announcement and also marks the largest single-day reverse repo operation it has ever conducted.
The issue was partly caused by the fact that there were previous operations which were maturing so we need to see the net effect.
According to Reuters calculations, 1.05 trillion yuan (US$151 billion) worth of reverse repos are set to mature on Monday, meaning that 150 billion yuan in net cash will be injected.
This also came with a small interest-rate cut.
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s cut to its reverse repo rate should alleviate the shock to the real economy from a virus outbreak and is a good move to stabilize expectations and restore financial market confidence, a central bank adviser said on Monday.
Ma Jun’s comments followed an unexpected decision by the central bank for a cut of 10 basis points in the interest rate on reverse repurchase agreements.
Thus we have seen the traditional central banking response to an expected equity market decline as well as a reason for today’s fall in the Yuan.
Manufacturing
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This is a rather hot topic in the circumstances as we note this morning’s release.
“The Caixin China General Manufacturing PMI stood at
51.1 in January, down from 51.5 in the previous month. The
manufacturing sector expanded at the slowest pace since August, despite growing for six consecutive months, indicating a mild economic recovery.”
It is hard what to know to make of that and even more so this.
That said, business confidence continued to improve, with the gauge for future output expectations on the rise and tending to recover after two years of depression, due chiefly to the phase one trade deal between China and the U.S
Looking at the dates this gives us a snapshot just before the virus hit and perhaps we should be expecting something more like this bit going forwards.
Production growth slowed, with the output subindex posting its lowest reading since last August. The employment subindex returned to negative territory.
Whilst it also covers other sectors of the economy the official industrial data for December was somewhat downbeat.
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s industrial firms posted their first annual decline in profits in four years in 2019, as the slowest economic growth in almost 30 years and a bruising trade war with the United States hit the country’s factories.
Official data released on Monday showed industrial profits declining 3.3% on an annual basis to 6.1996 trillion yuan ($897.96 billion) in 2019, compared with the 2.1% dip in the January-November period, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on its website. It was first full-year decline since 2015 when profits fell 2.3%.
Hong Kong
This has a role as a type of offshore hybrid for the Chinese economy. Even before the Corona Virus it had been seeing economic problems due to the protests there.
According to the advance estimates, GDP decreased by 2.9% in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2019 from a year earlier, compared with the decrease of 2.8% in the third quarter of 2019. The decline of was mainly attributable to the weak performance in both domestic and external demand. For 2019 as a whole, GDP decreased by 1.2% in real terms from 2018. ( Hong Kong Statistics )
The situation is presently in flux with @fastFT announcinng this earlier.
Hong Kong closes border crossings with China
Comment
The issue here twists on the fact that the Corona Virus is new. After all a flu epidemic would be considered not that major on this scale, but it is the fear of the unknown driving this. But the quarantining response has hit the Chinese economy and is being felt around the world. For example the reduction in oil demand has led to this.
OPEC+ IS CONSIDERING FURTHER OIL OUTPUT CUT OF 500,000 BPD DUE TO VIRUS IMPACT ON DEMAND – TWO OPEC SOURCES MOST OPEC MEMBERS AGREE ON NEED TO CUT OIL OUTPUT FURTHER || OPEC+ NOW CONSIDERING MEETING ON FEB. 14-15 – OPEC SOURCE ( @FirstSquawk )
This is in reply to a price for a barrel of Brent Crude Oil which has fallen below US 57 Dollars today. Those who just follow the headlines will be a bit surprised as we have in recent times twice had headlines of it exceeding 70 US Dollars but the truth is that without something special to boost it the oil price has been slip-sliding away.
Switching to Dr. Copper then a futures price of US $2.53 suggests trouble ahead. As to Iron Ore the price falls are already impacting on the South China Territories. From Commodity News.
THE deadly coronavirus outbreak threatens to put a significant dent in Western Australia’s finances amid a plunge in the iron ore market.
Premier Mark McGowan says a 13 per cent decline in the iron ore price over the past fortnight to $US81 ($A121) per tonne is one of several concerns for a state economy heavily dependent on a lucrative trade partnership with China.
Construction has ground to a halt across China amid travel restrictions and port closures, prompting investors to dump iron ore shares.
Meanwhile if you want some positive news here is an example from planet ECB.
ECB’s De Guindos: Starting To See Signs Of Stabilisation On A Global Level. ( @LiveSquawk )