Gold’s been on a wild ride. After reaching a peak of $1,920 an ounce in September 2011, gold has tumbled 28% to the current ~$1,380 level forcing John Paulson to take a 47% loss in his gold fund during the first four months of this year, according to Bloomberg. Unlike John Paulson who maintained his positions in gold, other big players like George Soros and BlackRock cut their gold ETF holdings, while Goldman Sachs...
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China urbanization is far behind that of the US, Japan, Germany, and South Korea. In fact, according to a new report from analysts at Goldman Sachs, by 2050 (37 years from now) China will still be lagging behind all three countries (see chart below). China Urbanization rate will increase rapidly, but it will not be enough to catch up with more ‘developed’ countries. This will have a profound impact on the global economy and...
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China is slowing down as some predicted several years ago. However, the big question now seems to be will it be a hard or soft landing? BAML is out with a new report on which countries will be impacted assuming there is a China hard landing. It is important to note they do not predict a hard landing, rather they examine who will be the hardest hit assuming it does happen. China Hard Landing...
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For the last 20 years China’s economy has relied heavily on exports to Western markets, such as the United States and European Union. Now, rapidly rising wages and a booming economy suggest that China may be on the verge of shifting from export driven growth to meeting consumer demand. Through the course of 2012, private sector wages in China rose by a stunning 14 percent. This rapid growth in wages came even as economic...
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In this post, we highlight findings from scouring Gartner’s pivot tables from its 1Q13 Mobile Devices Market Share report published May 13. We find this report helpful in understanding country-by-country and region-by-region trends, which often are not given on company conference calls. Countries studied include, the U.S., China, India and Canada. Companies include ZTE, Lenovo, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Samsung, Nokia, and Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) among others. China – Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung Making...
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Michael Pettis spoke at the Wince Country conference. Pettis rarely speaks so this is a treat for readers. Considered one of the experts on China, Pettis discusses China and the huge problems facing the country. The video was just recently uploaded online this past Tuesday. Jim Chanos also spoke at the conference on a very similar topic. Michael Pettis is a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a finance professor at Peking...
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In the United States bilking people for tens of millions of dollars results in time behind bars. Just look at Nevin Shapiro, who stole tens of millions of dollars and received a 20 year sentence. In China, however, mass fraud can result in the death penalty. Lin Haiyan, a 39-year-old woman from Wenzhou, was recently sentenced to death for running a 70 million dollar Ponzi scheme. Does China have the right idea, or is...
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Chris Woods of CLSA is out with his popular weekly GREED and Fear report. Last week the focus from Greed and Fear was on bubbles, Bernanke related. This week Woods starts off with a shot at CNBC in relation to the Bloomberg scandal. He has some interesting comments on China and titles this report ‘China’s Lack of Traction.’ Below is the full report which came out yesterday. China’s lack of traction Beijing The grinning hyenas...
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Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) announced Thursday that it would pay $29.5 million to the sellers of Chinese equipment maker to resolve all outstanding issues. This deal reached by the world’s largest maker of construction equipment is considerably less than the $164.5 million that it was contracted to pay to Emory Williams and James Thompson Jr., who controlled Siwei via a Hong Kong-listed entity, and two other parties. Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) said it had reached a settlement...
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Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that iron ore has fallen low and is now in the bear market over China’s demand concerns. China and its effect on commodity prices has been a much discussed theme lately, BAML’s investor poll flagged decline in Chinese industrial demand as a leading market fear. Iron ore’s fall this year began in February and that is when related stocks with heavy exposure in iron-ore mining got pressured. The price of 62...
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![Taobao Marketplace: Largest Online Shoppers In China [INFOGRAPHIC]](http://thumbnails.visually.netdna-cdn.com/a-field-guide-to-chinas-online-shoppers_5192918f1f0ae_w587.jpg)
Taobao Marketplace, China’s largest and most influential online shopping platform in the world, has passed a few milestones lately, and now it has reached another. On May 10, the website that introduced online shopping to China’s burgeoning consumer class turned 10 years old. The online shopping website has more than 500 million registered users. Using the site’s extensive data on the behavior of consumers in Greater China, Taobao researchers recently released a breakdown of...
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