Futures are higher by 62, so ignore everything I am about to tell you. A private survey in China showed just 22% of firms expanded their workforces in the first quarter. Moreover and importantly so, a paltry 33% of firms reported capital expenditure growth.
The quarterly survey of over 2,200 firms by China Beige Book International (CBB) also showed less hiring by companies, marking the second consecutive quarter of downward pressure on employment as executives scale back borrowing and spending.
Only 33 percent of firms reported capital expenditure growth in the first quarter, the lowest in the survey’s five-year history.
The share of firms reporting capex growth has fallen by over 40 percent since the second quarter of 2014.
“It’s unclear whether the economy as a whole weakened again in the first quarter. But policy challenges appear to have grown, and Beijing therefore may perceive the economy as weaker,” survey report authors Leland Miller and Shehzad Qazi wrote.
Nothing is unclear about this report. Reported GDP by the Chinese government is a farce. Their economy is slowing on a scale unseen in a generation.
Back to buying your e-mini futures. My apologies.
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Nothing to see here. Move along. Back to your episode of Naked and Afraid.
Yen getting smoked. All is well.