The View

Daily analysis of the major talking points in the worlds of Business and Investing with a focus on implications for doing both in mainland China and its key financing hub - Hong Kong.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po’s budget speech is broadcast live on Wednesday. Hong Kong achieved a budget surplus of HK$138 billion last year. Photo: Winson Wong

What will happen to Hong Kong’s budget surplus if it’s not spent?

These pages have been full of well-intentioned advice to Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po about how to spend our enormous pot of gold. Hong Kong now has HK$1.1 trillion (US$14 billion) of reserves, plus another HK$3.6 trillion in the Exchange Fund.

1 Mar 2018 - 10:41pm 16

Hundreds of KFC outlets remained shut in Britain on February 21 because of a supply crisis, leaving fans craving a fix of deep-fried chicken. The shortages prompted online mockery and disbelief aimed at the US fast-food giant. Photo: AFP

Handle crisis like KFC and Samsung, not like Apple and United

28 Feb 2018 - 10:45pm 5

Hong Kong has struggled unsuccessfully to replace industries that migrated across the border during China’s economic opening. Photo: EPA

Our best policy options are human capital and cash hand-outs

27 Feb 2018 - 11:18pm 4

Jerome Powell, the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, will have a chance to clarify the Fed’s position on Us inflation when he testifies before Congress in Washington, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

The fight between bulls and bears over the US economy is on

26 Feb 2018 - 10:30pm

Financial Secretary, Paul Chan Mo-po attends a ceremony for the Tung Chung New Town extension earlier this month. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Expect little in next week’s HK budget –you will not be disappointed

22 Feb 2018 - 1:10pm 12

While 2017 was an exceptionally tranquil year, fuelling a bull market in bonds and equities, 2018 is shaping up to be a much more turbulent year in which markets will struggle to establish a clear direction and consensus trades will be hard to come by, says Nicholas Spiro. Photo:

Return of market volatility leaves investors dazed and confused

19 Feb 2018 - 10:45pm

The dock in Qingdao, in China's eastern Shandong Province. China is creating more debt to fuel its economy. Photo: Xinhua

Is growing debt the biggest risk for China’s economy?

16 Feb 2018 - 6:13pm 11

The New York Stock Exchange. Recent events suggest the bull run is slowing down or may even be over. Photo: Xinhua

The bull run may be over – and now comes the messy bit

14 Feb 2018 - 10:34pm 6

The Federal Reserve in Washington. Although US inflation expectations have risen over the past several months, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation is comfortably below its target of 2 per cent. Photo: AFP

Prophets of market doom are jumping the gun

12 Feb 2018 - 11:30pm 1

More than half of Hong Kong’s 18,000 taxis are more than seven years old, according to the Transport Department. Photo: Dickson Lee

Why shabby taxis rule Hong Kong streets and Uber can’t get a break

8 Feb 2018 - 10:34pm 65

Successful entrepreneurs usually focus on goals such as building their businesses rather than the monetary rewards, writes Stephen Vines. Photo: Reuters

The great money delusion is that we never quite have enough

7 Feb 2018 - 10:38pm 1

Hong Kong stocks are overvalued and poised for a correction, writes Henry Chan. Photo: AFP

This nasty asset-price correction is poised to gather speed

6 Feb 2018 - 10:42pm

Last year, the IMF warned that ‘international experience suggests that China’s credit trajectory is dangerous, with increasing risks of a disruptive adjustment.’ Photo: Reuters

Why bets against China and Italy are a fool’s errand

5 Feb 2018 - 11:04pm

Members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists move the Doomsday Clock’s hands to two minutes until midnight at a news conference in Washington on January 25, 2018. Photo: Reuters

Here’s what the Doomsday Clock is telling us

1 Feb 2018 - 10:34pm

Beleaguered Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah firmly under the spotlight. Photo: SCMP

Teresa Cheng must go, as justice department credibility is at stake

31 Jan 2018 - 10:48pm 22

A far more radical change in housing policies must be contemplated, writes Richard Wong. Photo: Winson Wong

It’s time for smaller public housing, and privatisation

30 Jan 2018 - 11:01pm 2

Steven Mnuchin, US Secretary of the Treasury, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week that he does not concern himself thinking about dollar weakness over the short term. His remarks helped to send the dollar lower against major currencies. Photo: Reuters

Wilting US dollar may derail the boom in emerging markets

29 Jan 2018 - 10:31pm

No one really knows if the pursuit of proprietary trading profits is worthwhile as robots and algorithms fight it out- server versus server

Banks should throw in the towel on proprietary trading

25 Jan 2018 - 10:28pm 2

For a better snapshot of economic prosperity, consider indicators such as median household incomes and health along with GDP. Photo: AFP

As Hongkongers will tell you, GDP not a perfect prosperity gauge

25 Jan 2018 - 12:30am 4

According to JPMorgan Asset Management, this will be the first year since the financial crisis of 2008 that the world’s top central banks, including the Federal Reserve, will end monetary stimulus. Photo: Reuters

The case for a bear bond market grows stronger by the day

22 Jan 2018 - 10:48pm

Hong Kong has almost zero unemployment, so the city should welcome the participation of more foreign workers, writes Richard Harris. Photo: Bloomberg

Should Hongkongers become more international?

18 Jan 2018 - 10:34pm 12

The rapid rise of e-commerce could force changes in the city’s shopping areas, and may even mean space becoming available for small independent retailers

Whither Hong Kong as the world of retailing changes fast?

19 Jan 2018 - 12:18pm

The bitcoin phenomenon is a reflection of a loss of faith in – and indeed outright disdain for – the world’s political and economic elites

Be bullish on the future of cryptocurrencies

15 Jan 2018 - 10:35pm

It’s time regulators started clawing back illicit returns from investors

Regulators must start clawing back illicit returns from investors

11 Jan 2018 - 5:09pm 1

Grantham is best-known for his accurate prediction in 2000 that US stocks would lose ground for the next decade. He now warns the current market is one of the highest-priced in history

Famed US strategist Grantham says stocks heading for a ‘melt-up’

10 Jan 2018 - 10:28pm 2

When America’s economy, currently the world’s largest, is in good health, there is a disproportionately positive knock-on effect for the world economy.

The risks and rewards ahead for investors in 2018

9 Jan 2018 - 10:30pm

The weaker dollar has been a major factor behind the loosening of financial conditions. Photo: Reuters

Sliding dollar is the new painkiller for global markets

8 Jan 2018 - 10:52pm

Flags raised outside the Hong Kong stock exchange. Photo: Reuters

HKEX must take a lead in tech listings or risk irrelevance

4 Jan 2018 - 1:32pm 1

The benchmark S&P 500 equity index has surged nearly 30 per cent since Trump’s victory while US stock markets have just enjoyed their calmest year in nearly half a century. Photo: AP

How Trump and Wall Street can exist in parallel worlds

2 Jan 2018 - 3:10pm

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28 Feb 2018 - 11:44pm 16

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Hong Kong reboots with ‘back to the future’ budget and massive spending

1 Mar 2018 - 12:01pm 35

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27 Feb 2018 - 9:30pm 2

Liu He told the World Economic Forum in Davos in January that China’s economic transformation could create huge potential for foreign firms. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Trade top of agenda as Liu He ‘seeks coordination’ with US officials

28 Feb 2018 - 12:08am

Hong Kong-based Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok. File photo

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Malaysian election: anti-Chinese whispers target Hong Kong billionaire Kuok

28 Feb 2018 - 11:03am 20

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Trump Jr outshines Trudeau. India-Canada ties are that bad

27 Feb 2018 - 5:31pm 47

Giving China’s Xi Jinping an unlimited presidential term would help smooth policy implementation but could also stir up trade tensions, analysts said. Illustration: Henry Wong

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Is more Xi the answer to China’s economic woes, or recipe for disaster?

28 Feb 2018 - 12:06am 105

Social & Gadgets

Samsung’s Galaxy S9 may be too little, too late to retake China market

27 Feb 2018 - 5:18pm 9