ASIA: The Chinese government is set to kick off an annual parliamentary meeting this week for approving national priorities for 2021. The “Two Sessions” parliamentary meeting is slated to begin Thursday with the opening of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body. The National People’s Congress legislature is scheduled to kick off its […]

COMMENT: Mr. Armstrong, I thought you were wrong on Bitcoin and that it was a store of value. I can see now that it is only a trading vehicle as you have said. But what made me write to you is I just read that Dorsey is opening up an online bank. You got that […]

ASIA: Bank of America economist said China stands a good chance of doubling the size of its economy by 2035 — and surpassing the U.S. as the world’s largest economy along the way. Helen Qiao, head of Asia economics at BofA Global Research, said some reform measures would help China get there. Doubling of China’s […]

ASIA: China’s manufacturing sector grew at a markedly slower pace in February than the month before, surveys released over the weekend suggested, even as similar indicators in the US are signaling rapid growth. Chinese purchasing managers indexes have been trending lower since December when officials mandated new lockdowns in some northern cities to contain a […]

The outage of the National Settlement Service and the Fedwire Securities Service, which provides issuance, settlement, and transfer services for Treasuries and other government securities, was down and this has caused some concern and then conspiracy theories mixed in. The Fed made progress reversing the shutdown within a couple of hours, however, this has illustrated […]

ASIA: US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack believes China is making good on promises it made as part of the landmark phase one trade deal it signed with the US last year. Vilsack said that the deal allows for market conditions to dictate how much Beijing is required to purchase from US farmers. The COVID pandemic, […]

ASIA: New home prices in China grew at a faster pace in January, driven by red-hot demand in the country’s mega cities despite the government’s cooling measures. Average new home prices in 70 major cities increased 0.3% in January from a month earlier, versus a 0.1% gain in December, according to Reuters calculations based on […]

ASIA: The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today: NIKKEI 225 closed Shanghai decreased 6.09 points or -0.17% to 3,636.36 Hang Seng increased 312.81 points or 1.03% to 30,632.64 ASX 200 increased 58.30 points or 0.86% to 6,839.20 Kospi decreased 9.66 points or -0.31% to 3,070.09 SENSEX increased 7.09 points or 0.01% to […]

ASIA: Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi said on Monday the United States and China could work together on issues like climate change and the coronavirus pandemic if they repaired their damaged bilateral relationship. Wang said China is willing to reopen constructive dialogue with Washington after relations between the two countries sank to their lowest in […]

ASIA: China may ban the export of rare-earth refining technology to countries or companies it deems as a threat to state security, according to a person familiar with the matter. While China has no plans to restrict shipments of rare earths to the US, it is keeping the plan in its back pocket should a […]