Survey closes 26th February 2010. With over 12,000 respondents in 2009 and now in its 32nd year, it is the industry’s largest, most respected survey.
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From the category archives:
Forex Education
Ockham Research submits:
Slowing growth in China has sent a chill through the global economy over the past few weeks, as Chinese central bankers have aimed to slow rapid growth through quantitative tightening. According to an article on Bloomberg.com, these efforts to dampen growth may be too late for the Beijing commercial real estate market. As we have noted over the past few months, lending activity in China was extremely robust over the past year and many believe it helped pull the global economy up by its boot straps last year. The lending intensified in January as borrowers rushed to get funding before the spigot was turned off; 1.39 trillion yuan worth of loans were doled out last month, more than the preceding three months combined. Quite a number of these loans went toward real estate and development projects as property values soared in Beijing.
The number of skyscraper’s built in the last year is simply amazing and is certainly reminiscent of a bubble mentality. Jack Rodman, president of Global Distressed Solutions LLC, who has lived and worked in Beijing for the last eight years, estimates that nearly half of the office space in Beijing sits vacant.
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Frank Holmes submits:
China sees a bubble ahead and is trying to avoid it – is that such a bad thing?
Isn’t this what we expect Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve to do here at home – take clear and decisive action to drain off excess liquidity in the economy before inflation takes hold?
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John Lounsbury submits:
Bloomberg News today reports on 50% vacancy in Beijing commercial real estate. This is up from a 22% vacancy rate in the third quarter last year. From the article:
Empty buildings are sprouting across China as companies with access to some of the $1.4 trillion in new loans last year build skyscrapers. Former Morgan Stanley chief Asia economist Andy Xie and hedge fund manager James Chanos say the country’s property market is in a bubble.
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Michael Johnston submits:
Gold has historically been used in a variety of ways by different investors, but the precious metal is perhaps most commonly embraced as a safe haven investment that smooths out overall portfolio volatility in rocky economic environments. When signs of economic weakness appear, investors tend to sell risky assets such stocks in favor of low-risk safe havens such as Treasuries and physical currency. The relative performance of these asset classes during the most recent recession highlights the potential benefits of holding gold: between September 2008 and the bear market lows in in March 2009, the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) added 14% while the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) lost almost 45%.
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