We've never seen this before.
A buffoonish level of complacency in a global RISK OFF event. pic.twitter.com/GgJPZWs1fP
— Mac10 (@SuburbanDrone) August 19, 2023
There is a high probability that Powell will finish off China this week. And then U.S. gamblers will wish they had a map with more than one country on it. pic.twitter.com/90cy9Cz38j
— Mac10 (@SuburbanDrone) August 19, 2023
What are the odds the Fed starts dramatically reducing BTFP and OCE regional bank interventions this week now that the narrative is in play? https://t.co/2RhyVZh9fE
— Financelot (@FinanceLancelot) August 19, 2023
China’s Bubble deflation has entered the acceleration phase. Going forward, Crisis Dynamics will be increasingly unpredictable and difficult to control.
August 17 – Bloomberg: “Only a week ago, Zhongzhi Enterprise Group Co. attracted little notice within China and was almost unheard of everywhere else. Now, the secretive shadow banking giant has become the latest symbol of financial fragility in an $18 trillion economy where confidence among investors, businesses and consumers is rapidly dwindling. The privately owned manager of more than 1 trillion yuan ($137bn) and its trust-company affiliates are under intense scrutiny after halting payments to thousands of customers.”
Zhongzhi is a top-10 player in China’s shadowy $3.0 TN “trust” industry. Operating as “shadow banks,” trust companies typically offer investment products with rates significantly higher than bank deposits. Many are essentially subprime lenders. The industry is said to have about $300 billion, or 10%, direct exposure to real estate development, though most analysts believe overall real estate exposure is much higher.
While the failure of so-called “wealth management products” is not that unusual, today’s situation is much more dire. The unfolding collapse of Country Garden has unnerved already fragile confidence, with the entire developer industry likely to face a further collapse in sales, along with an acute liquidity crisis. The trust industry faces the grim prospect of rapidly mounting bad loans and panicked investors desperate to get their money back.
Investors Fear a Financial Contagion in China
If this isn’t a depression I don’t know what is.
Properties down -75%. pic.twitter.com/4HImYUnR06
— HOZ (@MFHoz) August 19, 2023
The Chinese government has vowed they will defend their currency. pic.twitter.com/MMMebysLbt
— Mac10 (@SuburbanDrone) August 20, 2023