A winter of discontent, a summer of stagflation…

By Bear Feller. As Christmas edges closer, the silly season is in full swing. Not only has your usually punctilious writer neglected his usual Tuesday afternoon deadline, but colleagues have been doing bizarre things at end-of-year parties, television has been getting steadily worse and the markets have been even further removed than usual from reality. Two cases in point are copper prices and the Australian dollar, two interlinked phenomena for more reasons of financial... Read More

The China Factor

By Greg Peel. While the most dominant theme of 2010 has been the European debt crisis, jointly and severably concerns over Chinese monetary policy have also kept investors awake at night. The great fear is that having been fundamental in dragging the world rather quickly out of what may have been the Great Depression II, Beijing’s inexperience might yet derail the whole process. It has been to my great amusement in 2010 that every time there is a positive data read... Read More

Who made the Value.able grade?

By Roger Montgomery. The Value.able class of 2010 is indeed all class. Your nominations for the A1 stocks to watch in 2011 are fine examples of the sorts of companies that I eagerly seek for my own portfolio (with the exception of the odd recalcitrant student who diverged from the lessons learned). I haven’t yet decided which will be revealed on Sky’s Twelve Shares of Christmas special tonight at 7pm, although the shortlist may be obvious from the numbers presented in the... Read More

Material Matters: China And Chile Visits, Copper, Iron Ore, And Gold

By Chris Shaw Following a recent visit to China, Citi remains of the view materials intensive growth in that economy of better than 20% per year will continue, driven by the combination of urbanisation and fixed asset investment. In terms of the various sectors of the economy, Citi’s view remains housing is not in a bubble as while the government is attempting to slow speculative investment there remains significant strength in the social housing end of the market. In... Read More

China’s undead growth

By David Llewellyn-Smith. The bubbling Chinese economy faces its own issues. Entrenched Bubbles scoff at “tinkering” and timid policymaking – and China’s Mighty Credit Bubble is proving no exception. Today, China’s Politburo released a statement proclaiming that next year they “will adopt proactive fiscal policies and prudent monetary policy.” The country’s officials are increasingly aware that aggressive tightening is warranted. Home price inflation has proved... Read More