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☆ Bank of Japan has learnt danger of half-measures
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) made no adjustments to its yield-curve control (YCC) policy that keeps interest rates ultra-low on Wednesday. However, that tweak’s failure to reduce the need of central bank intervention has left the BOJ with little appetite for more compromises. Instead Kuroda rolled out a new tool to hold interest rates down, signaling intervention will continue. CONTEXT NEWSThe Bank of Japan on Jan. 18 kept its ultra-low interest rates policy unchanged and maintained a bond yield cap band it has struggled to defend. Under the amended rules, the central bank can offer funds of up to 10 years against collateral to financial institutions for both fixed and variable-rate loans.

☆ China’s demographic decline can be boon, not doom
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Yet China’s demographic doom is not certain. It is hard to boost birth rates, but France and Scandinavia show it can be done. If last year’s population plunge inspires Beijing to smarten up policy, demographic stress need not augur economic decline. The birth rate was 6.77 per 1,000 people, down from 7.52 in 2021 and marking the lowest such reading on record. United Nations analysts project China's population will shrink by 109 million by 2050, more than triple the rate of their previous forecast in 2019.

In January 2021, my net worth was -$15,000. Despite this, my net worth increased from -$15,000 to $15,000 since January 2021. Together, these accounted for an increase of $12,000 in my net worth. In the end, these different sources accounted for an additional $5,000+ that I invested over the last six months — which has allowed me to surpass my original net worth goal for this time period. Three years ago, I made the first deposit into my Roth IRA and today that account makes up a substantial portion of my net worth.

☆ China’s wolf warriors start 2023 in retreat
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

HONG KONG, Jan 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Beijing has taken the mic away from combative foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian. His transfer follows other de-escalatory moves, thawing relations with major trading partners including Australia, Japan and the United States. It will still take years to undo the diplomatic and economic damage his pack of “wolf warriors” has done to Chinese interests. loadingChinese moderates have criticised the wolf warriors’ competence. With the Western democracies demonstrating the durability of their power in Ukraine without firing a shot, Chinese pandemic policy in shambles and its economy reeling, it’s unsurprising if the wolf warriors are quieting their howl.

Liza LinLiza Lin covers Asia technology news for The Wall Street Journal from Singapore, focusing mostly on China, the internet, supply chains and surveillance. In 2021, Liza was part of a team at the Journal that was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting, for their coverage of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Liza, alongside other Journal reporters, won the Gerald Loeb Award for International Reporting in 2018 for a series of stories on China's surveillance state. Liza is the co-author with Journal colleague Josh Chin of the book "Surveillance State: Inside China’s Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control." A Fulbright scholar, she has also worked for Bloomberg News in Singapore and China.

Persons: Liza Lin Liza Lin, Liza, Xi Jinping, Gerald Loeb, Josh Chin Organizations: Wall, New York Press Club, Society of Publishers, Social Control, Bloomberg News Locations: Asia, Singapore, China, Shanghai

☆ Venture capitalists’ pain could be humanity’s gain
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A record $630 billion poured into venture capital investments that year. Now, as interest rate hikes tear into alternative assets, money going into innovation is being reallocated. Global VC funding fell to $329 billion in the nine months to September 2022, per a report from CBInsights, down 27% year-on-year. The liquidity crunch exposed governance flaws, dumb ideas and solutions looking for problems: metaverses, non-fungible images of bored apes, flying cars. Designing microscopic robots to fight disease and biochemical computers to outperform silicon chips entails higher upfront costs and longer commercialisation cycles than the consumer app plays many Silicon Valley backers are accustomed to.

☆ Traders will anxiously watch the Bank of Japan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

HONG KONG, Dec 19 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Shorting the Bank of Japan (8301.T) is the trade of 2023. Gyrations in Japanese bond yields resulting from an abrupt increase in benchmark interest rates could force indebted domestic entities to dump overseas assets, roiling global markets. The question on traders’ collective mind is what happens when the central bank finally adjusts its “yield-curve control” policy, or YCC, which has held down government bond yields for more than six years. A higher-than-expected wage hike resulting from springtime negotiations could persuade officials that salaries are offsetting higher prices, bolstering the case for normalising interest rates. Meanwhile higher interest rates would allow Japanese companies to earn better returns on their 325 trillion yen ($2.4 trillion) cash hoard.

☆ I was a medical student and accidentally blew up on Tiktok. Now I have a new side hustle as an influencer.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Rasha Aly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Norman Harris II, 25, a third-year medical student at Temple University in Philadelphia, who works as a student influencer. How many hours to dedicate to being a Tiktok influencer and a medical student is a balancing act. I want to preserve my brand — being a medical student at Philadelphia's Temple University who wants to make a social impact while having a comedic flair. Walking a tightrope between two careersBeing a student influencer and a medical student takes work — determining how many hours to dedicate to each profession is a balancing act. When I became a medical student, the YouTube videos became too long to edit.

☆ China’s U.S. audit capitulation is rare win-win
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NISEKO, Japan, Dec 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The history of Sino-American diplomatic relations is not replete with unequivocal U.S. negotiating victories. State-owned giants including oil refiner Sinopec (600028.SS) voluntarily decamped while its peer CNOOC (0883.HK) was booted off on a separate government order. Their departure helped erase over half a trillion dollars from the collective value of Chinese companies there between June and September. Scandals overseas do not help: many Chinese investors, for instance, had stakes in Luckin. For their part, Chinese regulators tightened cybersecurity reviews of companies listing abroad, alleviating the concerns of officials who suspect American intentions.

☆ Betting against the Bank of Japan: podcast
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Thomson ReutersAsia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney joined Reuters Breakingviews in Hong Kong in September 2016. Previously he served as Reuters' chief correspondent for China Economy and Markets, running teams in Shanghai and Beijing; before that he was editor of China Economic Review, a monthly magazine focused on providing news and analysis on the mainland economy. Sweeney came to China as a Fulbright scholar in 2008, and in that role conducted research on the Chinese aviation industry and outbound M&A. In prior incarnations he helped resettle refugees in Atlanta, covered the European Union out of Brussels, and took a poorly timed swing at craft-beer entrepreneurship in Quito even as the Ecuadorean currency collapsed (not his fault). He speaks Mandarin Chinese, at the expense of his Spanish.

☆ Sale jumpstarts floating, offshore wind power in U.S. waters
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

The cost of developing offshore wind has dropped 60% since 2010 according to a July report by the International Renewable Energy Agency. Offshore wind is well established in the U.K. and some other countries but is just beginning to ramp up off America’s coasts, and this is the nation’s first foray into floating wind turbines. Europe has some floating offshore wind — a project in the North Sea has been operating since 2017 — but the potential for the technology is huge in areas of strong wind off America’s coasts, said Josh Kaplowitz, vice president of offshore wind at the American Clean Power Association. President Joe Biden set a goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 using traditional technology that secures wind turbines to the ocean floor, enough to power 10 million homes. Then the administration announced plans in September to develop floating platforms that could vastly expand offshore wind in the United States.

☆ China decoupling takes one step forward, one back
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

It has pushed for reshoring production of electric vehicles and silicon chips, and legislated to delist Chinese companies from New York. Europe, Japan, Australia and India have implemented their own measures ranging from restrictions on Chinese investment, excluding equipment from telecoms networks, and banning consumer apps. The impact the pandemic has had on Chinese supply chains has retroactively validated the push to separate. For politicians who hope to replicate the Chinese supply chain via tax tweaks, subsidies and sanctions, it’s worth remembering China started building out the requisite logistical infrastructure in the 1980s. Non-financial outbound direct investment in the same 10-month period rose 10.3% year-on-year to 627.4 billion yuan, Shu said.

☆ Breakingviews: Protests leave China facing a terrible trilemma
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

HONG KONG, Nov 28 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Officials’ muddled response to spiking Covid cases has set off three consecutive days of demonstrations spanning cities and social classes. Such behaviour undermines arguments that abandoning Xi’s zero-Covid policy will instantly stimulate economic activity. Covid-19 cases began spiking in China in early November following a week-long public holiday. The government reported 40,347 new infections for Nov. 27 in an update issued Nov. 28. Beijing announced 20 relaxations of the country’s pandemic policy on Nov. 11, including shorter quarantine periods and more narrowly targeted lockdowns.

☆ Protests leave China facing a terrible trilemma
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Such behaviour undermines arguments that abandoning Xi’s zero-Covid policy will instantly stimulate economic activity. Even before factoring in Beijing’s response to the unrest, the International Monetary Fund expects a measly 3.2% GDP growth for China this year. Covid-19 cases began spiking in China in early November following a week-long public holiday. The government reported 40,347 new infections for Nov. 27 in an update issued Nov. 28. Beijing announced 20 relaxations of the country’s pandemic policy on Nov. 11, including shorter quarantine periods and more narrowly targeted lockdowns.

☆ Investors ignore China Covid spike at their peril
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

HONG KONG, Nov 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The blistering relief rally underway in Chinese equities is understandable. Most of China’s trading partners have moved on to living with the virus, but Xi still aspires to keep it out. New cases have officially multiplied from roughly 1,000 per day in October to 25,353 on Thursday. In the second, Covid-19 finally runs wild in China, killing the unvaccinated elderly as it did in Hong Kong earlier this year. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index in Hong Kong has risen nearly 30% in the past 14 trading days, Refinitiv data show, while the onshore benchmark CSI300 index gained 9%.

☆ China’s property easing is minor capitulation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

HONG KONG, Nov 14 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Beijing has rolled out more measures to support its flagging real estate sector, including extending repayment periods, facilitating financing for developers and lowering mortgage down-payments. Real estate, contributing roughly a quarter of China’s $17 trillion of output, is a speculative monster that has cannibalised capital better used for other endeavours. Together with other easing steps announced since March, UBS estimates the new policies could contribute more than 1 trillion yuan ($142 billion) in fresh financing to the struggling industry. But if property must correct in the name of rebalancing, that makes boosting the rest of the economy more urgent. Measures include allowing real estate firms to defer repayment on some loans, and trust lenders are instructed to help finance companies seeking to complete rental housing construction or acquire other companies.

☆ Japan lives at the bleeding edge of good enough
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says he will put innovation and scientific research at the “centre” of his policy push. That has meant pushing the $1.3 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund to get involved funding startups while removing policy bottlenecks. In the United States nearly a third of venture capital came from pensions whereas in Japan it is only 3%, according to a Nikkei report. However, the blunting of Japan is due more to its failure to deploy existing tools and best practices than invent new ones. Investing in the future makes for riveting speeches, but Japan Inc will get more from reinventing itself than inventing new things.

☆ China’s foreign customers leave at worst time
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Off balance: China's trade balance has been risingThe outperformance of China’s export sector throughout the Covid-19 pandemic is a testimonial to the strength of its supply chain. Despite U.S. tariffs and darkening relations with Western trading partners, foreign consumers kept buying Chinese goods. In March 2021 China’s share of world exports touched nearly 16%, a level not enjoyed by any country since the United States in the 1970s. Before Covid-19 emerged, some economists had argued the government should redirect policy support away from exports toward domestic consumption and services. With consumption and investment weak, and exports flagging, government spending, the remaining GDP component, becomes even more important.

☆ How important is that spark when choosing a partner? The answer may surprise you
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Ian Kerner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

He tells me he picked his partner without prioritizing sexual attraction. Why would a person pick a potential life partner without feeling the spark of sexual attraction? Can something like sexual attraction that wasn’t there in the first place be cultivated later? Video Ad Feedback This is what you need to fall in love (2014) 01:55 - Source: CNNHow important is sexual attraction in a relationship? For some couples, sexual desire can grow over time if they focus on it.

Persons: Ian Kerner, ”, I’ve, doesn’t, Justin Lehmiller, Elizabeth Perri, “ I’ve, ” Perri, Eva Dillon, ” Dillon, isn’t, Dr, Yvonne Fulbright, “, Fulbright, Rachel Needle Organizations: CNN, ” CNN, “ Research, Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, American University Locations: Chicago, New York City, “, Washington ,

☆ China investors desperately seek market bottom
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

HONG KONG, Nov 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Tuesday’s rally in China shares may have been based on rumour. But in offshore markets, the value discount on offer is so extreme it makes gambling on false hopes less risky than it might otherwise be. Buying based on online scuttlebutt might seem reckless, but less so considering how beaten up offshore shares in some Chinese companies are. The average constituent of the S&P 500 (.SP500) trades at 15 times its estimated forward earnings, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (.HSCE) ratio is 5 times, Datastream shows. The question, though, is at what point investors see value in beleaguered Chinese technology companies and real estate developers.

☆ Breakingviews: Bank of Japan fiddles while bond market burns
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

HONG KONG, Oct 31 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Bank of Japan (8301.T) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda is playing with forex fire. With consumer costs spiking in Western economies, the Federal Reserve has been hiking borrowing rates, but in Japan inflation remains relatively tepid and growth anemic. Annual consumer inflation, at 3%, is subdued by global standards, but it is not the kind of demand- and wage-driven price rises the Bank of Japan has been trying to deliver. The central bank already owns roughly half of the total sovereign market; its holdings of long-term government bonds have risen to 560 trillion yen ($3.8 trillion) in 2022 from 40 trillion yen in 2008. Japan’s annual consumer inflation rate was 3% in September.

☆ Bank of Japan fiddles while bond market burns
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

☆ China’s chairman of everything wins again: podcast
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Meet the wealthy ex-Goldman Sachs junior banker and hedge-fund manager taking over as the UK's new prime minister
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

We've got famous authors yelling at Jamie Dimon, rich Russians heading to your favorite all-inclusive, and more people complaining about Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse infatuation. The UK has a new prime minister — no, it's not the head of lettuce — and he comes from the world of Wall Street! Rishi Sunak, a former finance minister, officially became prime minister on Tuesday after meeting with King Charles. Sunak's early career reads like a typical Wall Street mogul:-Spend three years working as a junior analyst at a bank (Goldman Sachs). Grenada is proving to be an effective loophole for wealthy Russians looking to get US visas.

☆ New UK PM Rishi Sunak is a child of privilege, married into almost $1 billion in tech money, and takes over a country struggling to afford heating
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | Yoonji Han | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Rishi Sunak will soon become the new prime minister of the UK. It's a union that made Sunak the first frontline UK politician to enter The Sunday Times' annual wealth listing. Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murthy, celebrating the British Asian Trust at the British Museum on February 2022. But despite his attempts to portray a down-to-earth image, the British public has had numerous reminders that Sunak has a very different experience with money than most people. His supporters, including British chancellor Jeremy Hunt, argue that Sunak's experience in finance and at the treasury make him the right man for the job.

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