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Will China Play The ‘Gold Card’?
Will China Play The ‘Gold Card’?
(See “Credit deflation and gold”.www.goldmoney.com/research/analysis.)
The thrust of the article is that China, at some point, will have to revalue gold in China; which means, in other words, that China will decide to devalue the Yuan against gold.
Since “mainstream economics” holds that gold is no longer important in world business, such a measure might be regarded as just an idiosyncrasy of Chinese thinking, and not politically significant, as would be a devaluation against the dollar, which is a no-no amongst the Central Bank community of the world.
However, as I understand the measure, it would be indeed world-shaking.
Here’s how I see it:
Currently, the price of an ounce of gold in Shanghai is roughly 6.20 Yuan x $1084 Dollars = 6,721 Yuan.
Now suppose that China decides to revalue gold in China to 9408 Yuan per ounce: a devaluation of the Yuan of 40%, from 6721 to 9408 Yuan.
What would have to happen?
Importers around the world would immediately purchase physical gold at $1,084 Dollars an ounce, and ship it to Shanghai, where they would sell it for 9408 Yuan, where the price was formerly 6,721 Yuan.
The Chinese economy operates in Yuan and prices there would not be affected – at least not immediately – by the devaluation of the Yuan against gold.
Importers of Chinese goods would then be able to purchase 40% more goods for the same amount of Dollars they were paying before the devaluation of the Yuan against gold. What importer of Chinese goods could resist the temptation to purchase goods now so much cheaper? China would then consolidate its position as a great manufacturing power. Its languishing economy would recuperate spectacularly.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Desperate move by China a worrying sign: Don Pittis
Instead of boosting economy there is danger China’s sudden move will hurt confidence
As the world responds to this week’s extreme andunexpected devaluation by the Chinese central bank, it sounds as if Beijing was taking the good doctor’s advice. And while the obvious intent was to snap the Chinese economy back to health, the frightening thing is that Beijing’s move smacks of desperation.
The modern equivalent of that Hippocratic maxim is: “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” As the Chinese currency and world markets took a dive, investors and trade partners around the world were asking themselves: “What does Beijing know that we don’t?”
Falling off a cliff. Chinese currency saw biggest one day decline in decades. (CBC news)
It’s not the first time this year that China has used strong government action to try to counteract inimical market forces. This spring, Beijing intervened, once to encourage stock markets to inflate, and then repeatedly in an attempt to stop the irresistible plunge when savvy traders realized stocks had become unrealistically high.
- Asian markets plunge despite measures to halt China meltdown
- China’s reminder that markets are never risk-free
The trouble is that markets do not like wild swings. And an economy that requires repeated radical intervention is one, like Russia, where no one knows what the government might do next.
Until recently, the fact that China was willing to back its own economy made it seem like an giant island of stability in a volatile world. In the darkest days of the great recession after 2007, China pumped money into its economy by encouraging borrowing and keeping the renminbi undervalued.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
12 Signs That An Imminent Global Financial Crash Has Become Even More Likely
12 Signs That An Imminent Global Financial Crash Has Become Even More Likely
Did you see what just happened? The devaluation of the yuan by China triggered the largest one day drop for that currency in the modern era. This caused other global currencies to crash relative to the U.S. dollar, the price of oil hit a six year low, and stock markets all over the world were rattled. The Dow fell 212 points on Tuesday, and Apple stock plummeted another 5 percent. As we hurtle toward the absolutely critical months of September and October, the unraveling of the global financial system is beginning to accelerate. At this point, it is not going to take very much to push us into a full-blown worldwide financial crisis. The following are 12 signs that indicate that a global financial crash has become even more likely after the events of the past few days…
#1 The devaluation of the yuan on Tuesday took virtually the entire planet by surprise (and not in a good way). The following comes from Reuters…
China’s 2 percent devaluation of the yuan on Tuesday pushed the U.S. dollar higher and hit Wall Street and other global equity markets as it raised fears of a new round of currency wars and fed worries about slowing Chinese economic growth.
#2 One of the big reasons why China devalued the yuan was to try to boost exports. China’s exports declined 8.3 percent in July, and global trade overall is falling at a pace that we haven’t seen since the last recession.
#3 Now that the Chinese have devalued their currency, other nations that rely on exports are indicating that they might do the same thing. If you scan the big financial news sites, it seems like the term “currency war” is now being bandied about quite a bit.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
China “Loses Battle Over Yuan”, And Now The Global Currency War Begins
China “Loses Battle Over Yuan”, And Now The Global Currency War Begins
Almost exactly seven months ago, on January 15, the Swiss National Bank shocked the world when it admitted defeat in a long-standing war to keep the Swiss Franc artificially weak, and after a desperate 3 year-long gamble, which included loading up the SNB’s balance sheet with enough EUR-denominated garbage to almost equal the Swiss GDP, it finally gave up and on one cold, shocking January morning the EURCHF imploded, crushing countless carry-trade surfers.
Fast forward to the morning of August 11 when in a virtually identical stunner, the PBOC itself admitted defeat in the currency battle, only unlike the SNB, the Chinese central bank had struggled to keep the Yuan propped up, at the cost of nearly $1 billion in daily foreign reserve outflows, which as this website noted first months ago, also included the dumping of a record amount of US government treasurys.
And with global trade crashing, Chinese exports tumbling, and China having nothing to show for its USD peg besides a propped and manipulated stock “market” which has become the laughing stock around the globe, at the cost of even more reserve outflows, it no longer made any sense for China to avoid the currency wars and so, first thing this morning China admitted that, as Market News summarized, the “PBOC lost Battle Over Yuan.”
That’s only part of the story though, because as MNI also adds, the real, global currency war is only just starting.
And now that China is openly exporting deflation, and is eager to risk massive capital outflows, the global currency war just entered its final phase, one where the global race to the bottom is every central bank’s stated goal. Well, except for one: the Federal Reserve. We give Yellen a few months (especially if she indeed does hike rates) before the US too is back to ZIRP, maybe NIRP and certainly monetizing even more things that are not nailed down.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
People’s Bank of China Freaks Out, Devalues Yuan by Record Amount, Vows to “Severely Punish” Capital Flight
People’s Bank of China Freaks Out, Devalues Yuan by Record Amount, Vows to “Severely Punish” Capital Flight
Everything has started to go wrong in the Chinese economy despite its mind-bending growth rate of 7%. Exports plunged and imports too. Sales in the world’s largest auto market suddenly are shrinking just when overcapacity is ballooning. The property market is quaking. Electricity consumption, producer prices, and other indicators are deteriorating. Capital is fleeing. The hard landing is getting rougher by the day. But Tuesday morning, the People’s Bank of China pulled the ripcord.
In a big way.
It lowered the yuan’s daily reference rate by a record 1.9%. The yuan plunged instantly, and after a brief bounce, continued to plunge. Now, as I’m writing this, it is trading in Shanghai at 6.322 to the dollar, down 1.8% from before the announcement. A record one-day drop.
The PBOC had kept the yuan stable against the dollar. As the dollar has risen against other major currencies, the yuan followed in lockstep. Over the past week, the Yuan’s closing levels in Shanghai were limited to vacillating between 6.2096 and 6.2097 against the dollar. Over the past month, daily moves were limited to a maximum 0.01%. The PBOC controls its currency with an iron fist.
Hence the shock to the currency war system.
The Nikkei, beneficiary of the most aggressive currency warrior out there, had been up, nearly kissing the magic 21,000 at the open for the first time in a generation, but plunged 200 points in one fell swoop when the news hit. Then the Bank of Japan jumped in with its endless supply of freshly printed yen, furiously buying Japanese ETF to stem the loss. The lunch break put a stop to all this. Then the Nikkei plunged again. Maybe the folks at the BOJ were late getting back to their trading stations. But now they’re back at work, mopping up ETFs.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Currency Devaluation: The Crushing Vice of Price
Currency Devaluation: The Crushing Vice of Price
Devaluation has a negative consequence few mention: the cost of imports skyrockets.
When stagnation grabs exporting nations by the throat, the universal solution offered is devalue your currency to boost exports. As a currency loses purchasing power relative to the currencies of trading partners, exported goods and services become cheaper to those buying the products with competing currencies.
For example, a few years ago, before Japanese authorities moved to devalue the yen, the U.S. dollar bought 78 yen. Now it buys 123 yen–an astonishing 57% increase.
Devaluation is a bonanza for exporters’ bottom lines. Back in late 2012, when a Japanese corporation sold a product in the U.S. for $1, the company received 78 yen when the sale was reported in yen.
Now the same sale of $1 reaps 123 yen. Same product, same price in dollars, but a 57% increase in revenues when stated in yen.
No wonder depreciation is widely viewed as the magic panacea for stagnant revenues and profits. There’s just one tiny little problem with devaluation, which we’ll cover in a moment.
One exporter’s depreciation becomes an immediate problem for other exporters: when Japan devalued its currency, the yen, its products became cheaper to those buying Japanese goods with U.S. dollars, Chinese yuan, euros, etc.
That negatively impacts other exporters selling into the same markets–for example, South Korea.
To remain competitive, South Korea would have to devalue its currency, the won. This is known as competitive devaluation, a.k.a. currency war. As a result of currency wars, the advantages of devaluation are often temporary.
But as correspondent Mark G. recently observed, devaluation has a negative consequence few mention: the cost of imports skyrockets. When imports are essential, such as energy and food, the benefits of devaluation (boosting exports) may well be considerably less than the pain caused by rising import costs.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Greece and Eurozone Crisis Made Simple
The Greece and Eurozone Crisis Made Simple
One can go into long convoluted explanations but, as I see it, there are two basic problems, one leading into the other. The more superficial problem is that in a single currency zone without the option of devaluation purchasing power will drain to the more competitive countries. To continue buying in the common currency people, companies and governments in less competitive (and poorer) countries have to borrow but this is a temporary solution for the obvious reason that they must pay back with interest so pretty soon borrowing makes this problem worse.
At that point the rationale of the common currency zone is stuck in an unresolvable dilemma. All the twists and turns have merely been “kicking the can down the road” – and each time the problem re-surfaces it is bigger and more threatening. What does “kicking the can down the road” mean? It means borrowing more in order to pay back the last lot of loans.
What makes it a little bit confusing is the way that the debt gets transferred from agency to agency at each can kicking stage. What has basically happened is that the other European states have wanted the Greek state to be turned into a debt collecting agency on behalf of the Eurozone governments and for the IMF. A key problem here is that the Greek elite does not actually pay taxes – they have taken their money and everything moveable to Switzerland or places like the London property market. Like the rest of the global elite they too believe that “only the little people pay taxes” and by now the little people have been ruined. The other option is to sell off the public sector to the creditors. However the Greek people have now elected a government that says that they can’t pay – a government that does not do what it is told by the creditors and whose finance minister did not wear a suit and a tie.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
China Could Face “Sharp” Rise In Capital Outflows If Stocks, Economy Lose Momentum
China Could Face “Sharp” Rise In Capital Outflows If Stocks, Economy Lose Momentum
We’ve written quite a bit over the past two months about capital outflows from China. Last week for instance, we documented how the country saw its fourth consecutive quarter of outflows in Q1, bringing the 12 month running total to some $300 billion. Why, beyond the obvious, is this a problem for China? Because pressure is mounting to devalue the yuan as the currency’s peg to the recently strong dollar is becoming costly for the country’s export-driven economy.
Here’s Soc Gen’s Albert Edwards on the subject:
In the current deflationary environment the Chinese authorities simply can no longer tolerate the continued appreciation of their real exchange rate caused by the dollar link.
And from Barclays:
Amid slowing inflation and rising outflows, the costs of limiting CNY weakness are growing – including the unintended effect of placing more stress on CNY market liquidity and interest rates, rendering liquidity easing efforts less effective.
And here is how we summed up the situation last month:
China is suddenly finding itself in an unprecedented position: it is losing the global currency war, and in a “zero-sum trade” world, in which global commerce and trade is slowly (at first) declining, and in which everyone is desperate to preserve or grow their piece of the pie through currency devaluation, China has almost no options.
At issue is the fact that expectations about the direction of the yuan may be contributing to capital outflows and any indication on the part of Beijing that devaluation is in the cards could exacerbate the problem. Now, data from SAFE suggests nearly $24 billion left China in March alone. Here’s more, via Bloomberg:
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Next Up: China Will Be Joining The Global Currency Wars
Next Up: China Will Be Joining The Global Currency Wars
Japan and the Eurozone have already (re-) discovered the power-button of their printing presses, but these countries might soon be joined by China. China’s prime minister has announced on Sunday he thinks it will be very difficult for China to keep its economic growth rate at the expected 7% level. That could result in some more worries on the financial market as the 7% level is already a guidance wich was revised downward from the previous expectations of an economic growth of 7.4%. Keep in mind the 7% growth rate would be the lowest economic expansion in approximately 25 years for the Asian country.
The situation might get worse before it gets better as for instance investment, consumption ànd production growth levels have fallen to multi-year lows which is obviously an extremely bad sign. A slowing growth rate of the Chinese economy will have an impact that will be felt all over the world despite the prime minister trying to shrug it off saying he’s more interested in a quality growthinstead of hard numbers and continues to make more excuses.
It’s however unlikely the Chinese government will allow the economy to grow at a much slower rate than the eyed 7% and it will definitely use all possibilities to make sure it meets its reduced target. The Chinese are already flexing their muscles and have patted themselves on the back they haven’t used their monetary bazooka since the global financial crisis.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Currency Wars… Are Not Working
Currency Wars… Are Not Working
While none of the current batch of currency-devaluing Central Bankers would admit that their policies are designed to weaken the currency, enhance competitiveness, and hail a new bright future of growth for their nation (by printing money), it is clear that is the chosen textbook-based path chosen. However, as the following charts show, it’s not working…
Massive devaluation in Japan… economic growth expectations slowing…
Massive devaluation in Europe… economic growth expectations slowing…
And then there’s The US…
(though note the last few weeks’ surge in the USD has sparked some deterioration in the economic outlook).
* * *
Clearly the answer to Japan and Europe’s problem is more devaluation…
The Monetary Illusion Again in Trade
The Monetary Illusion Again in Trade
Just as a follow-up to further highlight and emphasize the “monetary illusion” of currency devaluation in this closed environment, the yen’s returned devaluation against the “dollar” more recently has renewed confusion (or intentional misdirection) about what Abenomics is supposedly accomplishing. Taken solely from the perspective of the Japanese internally, exports to the US are once more growing, and doing so rather sharply. December’s year-over-year gain, in yen, was almost 24% while January came in at an equally robust 16.5%.
Taken by themselves without context, it would seem great fortune and monetary capability to gain in exports at such huge growth rates. But, as I have shown time and again, what goes out of Japan is matched by what comes in to the US. For all that buzz over huge export growth, nothing much shows up on this end.
Both months were positive in “dollars” but barely and thus no actual growth took place. Economists and central bankers even concede the disparity, but don’t much care about it. They simply assume that Japanese exporters now flush with more yen will hire more workers and pay the ones they have even more, igniting that virtuous circle of “aggregate demand.” In reality, why would they do that?
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Financial Markets: Pinocchio’s Enchanted Island
Financial Markets: Pinocchio’s Enchanted Island
The control of the commercials and the COMEX manipulators have is very depressing for the gold market investor. As soon as gold and the miners are about to get on another bullish leg, that the moving averages are positively aligned and re-crossing the 200-day MA, that the traders are standing by to get back in the market and are following the buying signals, BANG ! A new flash crash ! And, as usual, it is explained by vague and far-fetched reasons. The last example we have is what happened last Friday: Because of slightly better numbers on jobs creation in the United States, gold has been massively attacked and lost $40 in a single day ! Ten days like that would bring gold down to $834 ! This is gigantic ! One doesn’t have to look very far to realise that the manipulators are still running the show and are systematically keeping gold from resuming a bull market. They have failed to keep it under $1,200 for any length of time in 2014, but they are very active in keeping it under $1,300, because this would trigger technical buying orders.
The Fed will probably try to hike interest rates in June by 0.25%… so? The dollar is already too expensive and will hurt exports, the mountain of private and public debt in the U.S. will not be able to support a rate hike, and neither will the stock market, already in an historic bubble ! An interest rate hike in the U.S. would most likely totally extinguish what frail economic recovery there is. The Fed is about to make the same mistake Jean-Claude Trichet made for Europe: By over-estimating the capacity for economic recovery and by wanting to retain the weapon of rates reduction when recession hits, the central bank is going to choke an eventual recovery. The reality is that central banks are caught in a snare and the only weapon they have left is the destruction of their own paper money. One after the other, they go for competitive devaluation of their currency. After the Fed and the Bank of Japan, it’s now the ECB’s turn. Who will be next?
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Draghi’s Dangerous Bet: The Perils of a Weak Euro
Draghi’s Dangerous Bet: The Perils of a Weak Euro
The recent decision by the European Central Bank to open the monetary floodgates has weakened the euro and is boosting the German economy. But the move increases the threat of turbulence on the financial markets and could trigger a currency war.
The concern could be felt everywhere at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, the annual meeting of the rich and powerful. Would the major central banks in the United States, Europe and Asia succeed in stabilizing the wobbling global economy? Or have the central bankers long since become risk factors themselves? The question was everywhere at the forum, being addressed by experts at the lecturns and by participants in the hallways.
Central banks, said Harvard University economics professor Kenneth Rogoff, are surely the greatest source of uncertainty in the eyes of the financial markets, a statement that was not disputed by others on the panel. The fact that monetary policies at central banks in the US, Europe, Japan and elsewhere are drifting apart poses a major risk for the stability of financial markets, he said.
“It’s important for the international community to work together to avoid currency wars which no one can win,” Min Zhu, deputy managing director of the IMF, told the conference.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Hounded by Evil Dollar & Collapsed Commodity Prices, Corporate America Clamors for Total Currency War
Hounded by Evil Dollar & Collapsed Commodity Prices, Corporate America Clamors for Total Currency War
Consumers are feeling practically euphoric. The Conference Board index jumped almost ten points to 102.9, the highest since August 2007, just before the whole construct came apart. Not that reality has suddenly improved that much. But hey, we’re born survivors. Sooner or later, we adjust to lower real incomes and reduced standards of living and start feeling good again.
This exuberance came just as our largest corporate citizens were hit by a tornado of problems that sank the stock market for the day: currency volatility, crashing commodities prices, disappearing XP computers, farmers switching from corn to wheat…. It was all there.
Freeport-McMoRan, one of the largest copper producers in the world, reported an 11% drop in revenues for the fourth quarter and a salty $2.85 billion loss, which included $3.4 billion in losses for its oil and gas business that it got into via two impeccably-timed acquisitions in 2013. The depressed price of copper isn’t helping. It cut its 2015 budget by $2 billion and might cut it some more. Shares dropped 6%.
Long-suffering Peabody Energy, the largest coal producer in the US, reported a net loss for the quarter of $566 million on revenues that declined 3.3%. It projected a much wider loss than expected for the first quarter and cut its dividends to nearly nothing. It’s all about preserving cash and hanging on in a desperately tough pricing environment for coal producers. Shares dropped 6.5% to $6.24, down from $72 during the glory days in early 2011.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Currency Illusion
The Currency Illusion
QUESTION: I want to share a true story with you.
My father as a young boy in Greece saw what gold did for his family.
My grandfather in Greece in the late 30′s and 40′s saw the rapid devaluation
happening to the drachma. English sovereigns were plentiful
there at the time as a sort of duo currency.
As you can probably figure out he was converting any of his cash to gold
sovereigns.
My question to you is why do you protect the American dollar
and not the people of the world from the rapid devaluation
of their savings.
ANSWER: This is the entire problem with currency – people do not truly understand it and attribute to a single object value that does not truly exist. You can “think: it was gold that rose, but was it simply that the Drachma declined? The difference is critical. If ONLY gold rose then what you say would be correct. But if EVERYTHING rose, you are wrong.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
