Courtesy of Mish.
Steen Jakobsen has some interesting comments on China and Japan in his latest email.
Steen discusses China's "official" PMI which is different than the Markit PMI on China that I covered earlier (see Weaker China PMI, Especially New Orders and Exports).
Emphasis in italics mine.
Steen Writes …
Greetings,
China's official manufacturing PMI report just came out – and it’s weaker than projected. The print was 50.8 vs. 51.2 expected. Orders backlog looks especially weak.
Fathom Consulting in London is calling for China’s growth to slow to 5 percent over next year or so. Not sure I fully agree, but it’s certainly possible.
China Momentum
The world is now reduced to:
Japan QE Infinite (Helicopter money next) – BOJ is buying more than 100% of issuance from Ministry of Finance now! ECB can’t move needle, but can talk… Fed now voicing EUR concerns again (MNI news)…. US house market cooling, shale gas industry bankrupt German/EZ GUARANTEED recession (just updated SENTIX ECO vs. growth showing -2% by Q2 if nothing changes) Disinflaton/deflation trends accelerating to downside w. commodities, energy (which is excellent lead for "anchored" inflation expectations..)
…
