ASIA: Profits at China’s industrial firms grew for the eighth straight month in December, suggesting a sustained recovery as the manufacturing sector rapidly emerged from its COVID-19 slump, Reuters reported. Profits surged 20.1% year-on-year in December to 707.11-billion-yuan ($109.40 billion), after rising 15.5% in November, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed on Wednesday. […]

ASIA: Barring another wave of COVID-19 infections, the worst is over for India’s economy and policymakers may soon have more room to support a recovery, the central bank said in its January bulletin released on Thursday. The RBI slashed interest rates early last year to cushion the shock from the coronavirus crisis, but has left […]

ASIA: Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma has made his first appearance since Chinese regulators cracked down on his business empire. The billionaire met 100 rural teachers in China via a video meeting on Wednesday, according to local government media. The Chinese government slapped sanctions on former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security Adviser […]

  ASIA: Chinese exports grew more than expected in December, customs data showed on Thursday, as coronavirus disruptions around the world fuelled demand for Chinese goods even as a stronger yuan made shipments more expensive for overseas buyers, Reuters reported. While Chinese exports are likely to benefit from solid global demand at the start of […]

ASIA: China posted its biggest daily jump in COVID-19 cases in more than five months on Wednesday, stepping up containment measures that have seen four cities put under lockdown, as the world’s second-biggest economy scrambles to head off a new wave of infections. Most of the new cases were reported near the capital, Beijing, but […]

ASIA: Wall Street firms in Hong Kong including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan on Monday moved to reduce exposure to Chinese telecom companies named in a U.S. ban on investments in companies Washington considers linked to China’s military. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley said in filings to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong that they […]

NOTE: We wish our readers a happy and healthy holiday season. Due to decreased market activity, and some well deserved time off, we will suspend Market Talk until January 4, 2021. Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to providing you with Market Talk blog postings again in the new year! ASIA: China […]

ASIA: Chinese leaders who attended the Central Economic Work Conference from Dec. 16 to 18 were buoyant about China’s relative successes, while remaining cautious on major changes to stimulus policies, CNBC reported according to state media. The annual gathering sets development priorities for the upcoming year. Analysts who followed the meeting said it provided little […]

ASIA: The US Congress has officially passed the USD 740 billion defense policy bill, which among other things, included calling out Chinese aggression against India along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The US House of Representatives and the Senate on Tuesday passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which included key components of Indian-American […]

ASIA: China’s economic recovery broadened in November as both retail sales and industrial production growth accelerated, data released on Tuesday showed. Retail sales, a key indicator of consumption trends in the world’s most populous nation, grew by 5.0 percent from a year earlier, marking the fourth successive month of expansion. The November growth rate was […]