20 August 2018
Bassanese Bites: Did China Blink? – Week beginning: 20 August 2018
Turkey dominated the headlines for much of last week, with the fall out spilling over into emerging markets. But the big news was late in the week with the announcement that China and the US would hold trade talks in Washington this week, which saw the the S&P 500 end the week 0.6% higher. Following weaker than expected Chinese retail sales and industrial production reports last week, and the share market slump, it’s tempting to suspect Chinese officials are worried about a larger than desired growth slowdown. Indeed, Chinese officials have already moved to ease credit conditions in recent weeks, and last week announced new plans to boost infrastructure spending at the local government level. The controlled decline in the Yuan also suggests some desire to support exports in the face of higher US tariffs.
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