The news is that China’s government is drafting policies to fight inflation. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said so on November 15 from a supermarket in Guangzhou. The comments were broadcast on state TV so they count as solid news.
The rumor is that China’s central bank is about to raise bank capital requirements (again) and to increase its benchmark interest rates. The People’s Bank raised interest rates in October for the first time since 2007.
The news and the rumors have combined to hammer Chinese stocks—and the shares of global commodity producers. The Shanghai Composite index was down 4% on November 15 after falling 5% on November 12.
Shares of copper miners Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX) and Southern Copper (SCCO) have been among the hardest hit commodity stocks today, dropping 4.6% and 3.4%, respectively, as of 2:30 New York time.
Inflation came in at 4.4% in October, way above economists’ forecasts of 4% inflation and even further above the government’s target of 3% for 2010.
The big driver in inflation was food prices, which is one reason that Wen was in a supermarket and why speculation today is that the government is about to introduce price controls for food. Other measures that would be likely to accompany food price controls are a campaign against hoarding and new penalties for speculation.
China last imposed price controls in January 2008 when the country froze price for petroleum products, natural gas, and electricity.
But although price controls are a likely move—they would show that the government is doing something about the soaring cost of food—they don’t constitute the big policy guns against inflation. To really slow inflation, the People’s Bank will have to slow growth in the money supply with a combination of higher interest rates for deposits so more people will keep money in the bank and restrictions on bank lending. Right now interest rates on deposits are so low compared to inflation that savers lose money. And banks are about to blow through lending targets for 2010.
Those big policy guns would hit property developers, commodity producers, and exporters hardest—so it’s not surprising that those stocks are down the most over the last two days.
Sig, where ya been?
Working hard and prospering I hope.
Oh goodie, maybe we can avoid a trade war after all! Maybe Bernanke got the point across with PA2, I mean QE2, that the US has sat back long enough.
Persistent global imbalances end in global crashes that hurt everyone. I like the actions I’ve seen, but a trade war isn’t anything to blow off lightly. QE2 has angered everyone from Brazil to Germany to China to Russia (well, the Russians are mad no matter what USA does). Let’s hope world leaders keep their cool and avoid competitive devaluation.
why not let the yuan drift higher? why would that not be a policy response to inflation?
and price controls? really? when has the last time that worked?