The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Goldman Sachs: Chinese industrial profits growth rebounded

From Goldman Sachs's Chinese economist:

We expect some further sequential recovery in industrial profits in 4Q2012 as the wider economy is expected to recover modestly on modestly stronger external demand growth and relatively loose domestic policy. However, the trajectory is unlikely to be a smooth one. Industrial profits data tends to be much more volatile than IP data, and it is not uncommon to see changes of 10 ppt in its growth rate from one month to the next.


The continued strong growth in the utilities industry’s profits was likely to be the result of the National Development and Reform Commission’s action to allow utility prices to rise amid low CPI inflation. It is normal practice for the government to cap these prices when CPI inflation is high and vice versa.