ASIA: China’s real estate sector is having a rocky start in 2022, as some of the country’s most high-profile developers struggle to shake off a crisis that has been growing for months. This week, two major credit rating agencies downgraded Shanghai-based developer Shimao Group further into junk territory. The company has been grappling with mounting […]

ASIA: China’s official economic growth target is expected to be set above 5 percent in 2022, analysts told in an interview. China enters the local “two sessions” season, when local GDP growth targets are usually announced. Beijing and Central China’s Henan Province became the latest to start their annual meetings since Wednesday. Southwest China’s Xizang […]

ASIA: India and China have mostly set aside their bilateral differences in order to champion the cause of developing countries at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). That seems to be changing. During the latest round of China’s trade policy review, India questioned its northern neighbor’s claim that it was a developing country since, going by […]

ASIA:   The major Asian stock markets had a green day today: NIKKEI 225 increased 392.70 points or 1.37% to 29,069.16 Shanghai increased 14.14 points or 0.39% to 3,630.11 Hang Seng increased 56.80 points or 0.24% to 23,280.56 ASX 200 closed Kospi increased 20.69 points or 0.69% to 3,020.24 SENSEX increased 477.24 points or 0.83% […]

ASIA: Japan’s government is set to unveil its largest annual budget on Friday with $943 billion in spending for the fiscal year beginning next April, further straining the industrial world’s heaviest debt, Reuters reported. The first annual budget to be compiled by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government got a boost from Covid-19 countermeasures, social security […]

ASIA: Debt problems at a major Chinese property developer have now spilled over into a vital artery of the nation’s industrial engine – the steel sector – and started to ripple through to other critical parts of the world’s second-largest economy. The spreading balance-sheet crisis at real estate firms is a warning for policymakers as […]

QUESTION: Marty; would you comment on David Stockman’s insistence that the fundamental consequence of 30 years of Fed-fueled financial asset inflation is that the prices of stocks and bonds have way overshot the mark. Thank you HW ANSWER: David Stockman was the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1981–1985) under President Ronald Reagan. […]

The pinnacle of health, athletes seem to have an edge over the rest of society. Their grueling workout and nutrition programs, mixed with natural genetic athleticism, puts them ahead of others in the natural immunity category. So why are young athletes suddenly collapsing and/or dying from heart complications? The sports world has mostly mandated vaccines […]

ASIA: India surpassed Brazil in food exports to the League of Arab States for the first time in 15 years as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted trade flows in 2020, according to data provided by the Arab-Brazil Chamber of Commerce to Reuters on Tuesday. Brazil accounted for 8.15% of the total agribusiness products imported by the […]

ASIA: China’s foreign exchange regulator issued guidelines on foreign exchange trading on Friday, targeting market manipulation, fraud, and abuses. The guidelines would help regulate foreign exchange market trading and promote “honest, fair, orderly, and efficient” market operations, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said. According to the guidelines, market participants would be barred from manipulating […]