China: In School, No Masks, And A Runaway Stock Market

  24 Jul 2020

Don’t be jealous. But China is winning the coronavirus war.

Okay, you can be angry. At least frustrated.

Their kids are in school. They’re not wearing masks. Waiters in Chengdu…no masks. Gamer fanboys in Shanghai cued in line at last week’s Cartoon and Gaming Expo, masks half on, half off, by the hundreds.

And their economy will grow by more than 3% this year, Barclays Capital estimated on Friday.

China’s economy rebounded to a growth rate of 3.2% annualized in the second quarter, up from the 6.8% contraction in the first. It exceeded the Bloomberg consensus of 2.4%.

China’s numbers are supported by the sustained recovery in demand, both foreign and domestic. Retail sales continue to disappoint, but that’s mostly being dragged down by car sales.

Stimulus is the name of the game. The strong rebound is due in large part to infrastructure spending and new infrastructure project approvals (in May,they were up 11% annualized and in June, up 8%). And rising property investment (up around 9% from May to June) as this is China’s main savings account, considering they are not allowed to invest abroad, and everyone in China knows the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges are something akin to a Macau casino.

1 thought on “China: In School, No Masks, And A Runaway Stock Market

  1. They had a 3 months head start on the rest of the world. I think every country shouldn’t do business with China. Don’t let them into our stock market and take away all businesses here for reparations to USA and the rest of the countries they passed this deadly virus to.

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