Audit spat pokes hole in China’s financial edifice
By John Foley
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
China’s legal grey areas have been a source of enormous wealth for investors. Now a U.S. judge is threatening to poke a hole in the entire edifice. The Chinese units of the world’s biggest four auditors face a six-month suspension from auditing U.S.-listed companies after the judge decided they wilfully refused to hand over documents on Chinese clients to U.S. regulators. It’s hard to fault his logic, but upholding the rules could bring a huge cost.
China’s capital flight may be banks’ next headache
By Peter Thal Larsen
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Western banks’ next regulatory headache could be made in China. Most of the recent scrutiny of financial institutions’ business practices has come from the developed world – particularly the United States. But as Chinese citizens become more aware of the offshore wealth held by the country’s elites, banks are increasingly at risk of a regulatory backlash.
China’s growth slower but no more believable
By John Foley
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
China’s GDP growth may be getting more sustainable, but it’s no more believable. The country’s 31 provinces are on course to report aggregate nominal GDP far in excess of the total central figure for 2013 – and not for the first time. Big numbers are getting less reliable, which strengthens the case for new ones.
Quitting China is all about knowing how to go
By Ethan Bilby
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
An increasing number of foreign businesses are folding their tents in China. Multinationals used to be desperate to get into the People’s Republic. Now, as easy growth vanishes, leaving China is becoming less unusual. While some have kept a foot in the door, others have made a show of slamming it.
Hong Kong can’t build away high house prices
By Peter Thal Larsen
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Hong Kong’s plan to cool an overheated housing market by increasing supply sounds like repeating past mistakes. Even if the territory is able to boost construction as much as it intends, the expansion is modest. Property prices remain at the mercy of external forces.
Hollande finally gets it. Can he do it?
By Pierre Briançon
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Not that long ago a French socialist president talking about the need for supply-side reforms would have represented an intellectual revolution. After six years of financial crisis, the euro zone’s near-death experience and with the French economy stalling, it simply sounded like a long-overdue admission of reality when it came from François Hollande at his Jan. 14 press conference. Still, the slow learning doesn’t take anything from the intention to “accelerate,” as he chose to put it, economic reform.
Another reason to be gloomy about emerging markets
By Andy Mukherjee
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Investors have another reason to wrinkle their noses at emerging economies: fading labour productivity.
Coal typifies China’s reform: it’s hard and dirty
By John Foley
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Coal is much like China’s reform challenge: hard and dirty. Even as politicians fret about the country’s chronic smog, they approved 100 million tonnes of new mining capacity in 2013, six times the amount for the previous year. That will add to the 300 million tonnes or so already due to come on stream in 2014. The habit is proving difficult to kick.
Japan index: Rising wages, prices add to optimism
By Andy Mukherjee
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
The Breakingviews Abenomics Index rose for a third straight month in November, buoyed by increasing consumer prices and improved household earnings. Equity and bond markets remain hopeful that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s war on deflation will move closer to its target in 2014.
UK election clouds have gilt-edged lining
By Swaha Pattanaik
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)
British politicians are drawing up battle lines more than a year before general elections. On current form, the left-leaning opposition could oust the governing coalition. However, any knee-jerk investor dismay may be tempered given the Labour Party is more likely to cement the UK’s place in the European Union than the ruling Conservatives.
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