Thursday, February 13, 2020

China Syndrome

China Syndrome: a nuclear meltdown scenario so named for the fanciful idea that there would be nothing to stop the meltdown tunneling its way to the other side of the world ("China")


According to Zerohedge, the Chinese economy has ground to a halt. If so, Trump just won the trade war. And his booby prize will be global super implosion. Speaking of Camacho-In-Chief, Monday is a trading holiday to celebrate President's Day. What could go wrong?








Below, via the IMF, we see China's GDP growth rate through 2019. I also added in an hypothetical decline of 2% based upon current estimates of the virus impact. Of course if Zerohedge is right, this forecast could be optimistic.



"Millions of small businesses in China could be destroyed by the coronavirus outbreak, which has swept across the country, threatening “social stability.”

"Economically, the impact looks certain to dwarf the financial fallout from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong between 2002 and 2003 with its flu-like symptoms."

While hard figures are even harder to predict, analysts have speculated on China taking at least a 2% hit in GDP growth this year, eating into previous forecasts of just under 6%."


The IMF was forecasting 5.8% for 2020, so a 2% haircut would look like this:







"The new estimates show that oil markets face a significant surplus despite the latest production cuts by OPEC and its partners."


Trade wars, divestments, coronaviruses, and massively subsidized over-production. 

What could go wrong?





In summary:

Mind the Gap 'n Crap





#Winning!!!





"I bought for the tax cut, but I stayed for the pandemic and wretched excesses"