SINGAPORE: In little more than a week, China’s efforts to crank up its economy have achieved something important: President Xi Jinping changed the conversation about global prospects. The Federal Reserve, usually the principal force driving market sentiment and forecasting, has company.
That’s a big shift. For Beijing’s stardom to last, it needs to not only deliver what’s been flagged: Forceful monetary easing, fiscal expansion, new measures to help home buyers, capital injections into lenders, and the creation of a market stabilisation fund. Officials also now need to offer some meaty goals that justify the euphoria.
What does a win look like, and would such a victory be temporary or have staying power?
There’s certainly plenty of excitement. Not only did Chinese stocks surge, but everything linked to the country, from iron ore to the Philippine peso, was propelled higher.
An “anything but China” mantra has been supplanted by “all-in, buy China”, Louis-Vincent Gave of Gavekal Research wrote in a note on Tuesday (Oct 1). Beijing appears to have shocked traders into action.
