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WWRR Vol.2.017

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Christopher Wood christopher.wood@clsa.com +852 2600 8516<br />

conference include larger-scale tax and fee cuts for corporations and an increase in the issuance of<br />

special-purpose local government bonds.<br />

Figure 18<br />

OECD Composite Leading Indicator<br />

102<br />

(DI)<br />

101<br />

100<br />

99<br />

98<br />

97<br />

96<br />

95<br />

Jan 04<br />

Jul 04<br />

Jan 05<br />

Jul 05<br />

Jan 06<br />

Jul 06<br />

Jan 07<br />

Jul 07<br />

Jan 08<br />

Jul 08<br />

Jan 09<br />

Jul 09<br />

Jan 10<br />

Jul 10<br />

Jan 11<br />

Jul 11<br />

Jan 12<br />

Jul 12<br />

Jan 13<br />

Jul 13<br />

Jan 14<br />

Jul 14<br />

Jan 15<br />

Jul 15<br />

Jan 16<br />

Jul 16<br />

Jan 17<br />

Jul 17<br />

Jan 18<br />

Jul 18<br />

Source: OECD<br />

Nonetheless, it remains important to understand the sheer scale of deleveraging which has seen<br />

China bank asset growth running below nominal GDP growth since June 2017. At the risk of<br />

belabouring the point, GREED & fear will repeat the key data point. China depository corporations’<br />

asset growth has slowed from 15.8% YoY in November 2016 to 6.8% YoY in November 2018,<br />

compared with nominal GDP growth of 9.6% YoY in 3Q18 (see Figure 19).<br />

Figure 19<br />

China bank asset growth and nominal GDP growth<br />

28<br />

24<br />

(%YoY)<br />

China depository corporations' asset growth<br />

Nominal GDP growth<br />

20<br />

16<br />

12<br />

8<br />

4<br />

Jan 07<br />

May 07<br />

Sep 07<br />

Jan 08<br />

May 08<br />

Sep 08<br />

Jan 09<br />

May 09<br />

Sep 09<br />

Jan 10<br />

May 10<br />

Sep 10<br />

Jan 11<br />

May 11<br />

Sep 11<br />

Jan 12<br />

May 12<br />

Sep 12<br />

Jan 13<br />

May 13<br />

Sep 13<br />

Jan 14<br />

May 14<br />

Sep 14<br />

Jan 15<br />

May 15<br />

Sep 15<br />

Jan 16<br />

May 16<br />

Sep 16<br />

Jan 17<br />

May 17<br />

Sep 17<br />

Jan 18<br />

May 18<br />

Sep 18<br />

Source: PBOC, CEIC Data, National Bureau of Statistics<br />

Meanwhile, to GREED & fear, the above evidence of a global slowdown, combined with the growing<br />

prospects of America converging with that trend, has a silver lining for Asia and other emerging<br />

markets. That is because it raises the prospects of not only an end to Fed tightening but also an end<br />

to US-dollar strength, given the continuing negative correlation between a strong dollar and Asian<br />

and emerging markets. The correlation between the US Dollar Index and the MSCI Emerging<br />

Markets has been a negative 0.92 since the beginning of 2017 (see Figure 20).<br />

Thursday, 3 January 2019 Page 10

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