Travelling day. Hence the short post.
CHINA FACTS
China data: Aug refinery runs rise 6.5% on year to 10.48 million b/d
China’s refinery throughput rose 6.5% year on year to 44.34 million mt or an average 10.48 million b/d in August, preliminary data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Monday.
Over January-August, total refinery runs were up 4.9% year on year at 345.65 million mt or an average 10.43 million b/d, the data showed. This was a faster pace of growth than for the same period of 2014, when refinery runs were up 4.2% from January-August 2013, suggesting oil demand growth is continuing to increase. (…)
ISI: PBoC issued new rules Sunday to let banks reduce reserves required. And China is considering an $188b fiscal stimulus injection.
DOLLAR SCARE
Thanks to diverging monetary policies between the Fed and other major central banks, the trade-weighted USD has now gained more than 18% since June of last year, the fastest 15-month appreciation ever. That cannot be good for USD borrowers outside America. According to the latest Quarterly Review from the Bank for International Settlements, the stock of dollar-denominated debt held by non-financial entities outside the US grew to $9.6 trillion in the first quarter of 2015. As today’s Hot Charts show, that’s a record in absolute terms but also as a percentage of GDP. The latter, at 17% of World GDP excluding the US, suggests global exposure to a strengthening USD is now twice as large as it was 20 years ago. That’s something the Fed will have to seriously consider, together with domestic developments, before it decides to start a new tightening cycle. (NBF)
James Grant On Market Dangers And Donald Trump
Are dangerous cracks already appearing in the foundations of the world’s bond markets? In a rare interview, financial historian and bond market analyst James Grant, publisher of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer warns of the building investment fault lines.
P.S. Bloomberg Businessweek also has a fascinating article about Trump as its cover story this week.