China Financial News

Citi downgraded their U.S. stocks recommendation to neutral and upgraded China, figuring the U.S. economy may no longer outpace the rest of the world in the coming months. «We had not fully implemented our view that U.S. exceptionalism is at least pausing, but this has become clearer,» Citi's global head of macro, asset allocation and emerging market strategy, Dirk Willer, said in a note dated March 10.

Deepak Shenoy, Founder, Capital Mind, says from April 2nd, universally the reciprocal tariffs are in place. Given that, the next month is going to be volatile regardless of what happens. But I find that in markets, price uncertainty affects badly. That means markets just go down regardless of what the fundamentals might turn up. Stability will come only with some layer of certainty. We should look at the rest of this month and maybe the first few days of April as going to be tumultuous in the markets regardless. What do you make of the markets right now because the week gone by has been really good, but then comes Monday. Indeed, a volatile trading session. But given this weakness that we are seeing right now, what is your sense? Is this volatility here to stay? And what is the long-term trend that you are focusing on? Deepak Shenoy: There is a weakening trend in general. The rupee has weakened as well today, 20 odd paisa. There has also been a reversal in the market. But I feel this is mostly related to the uncertainty at a global standpoint because nothing meaningful in India has changed so far. One of the biggest threats right now is tariffs and what we will do to perhaps address them.

Mayuresh Joshi, Head Equity, Marketsmith India, says three triggers could lift Reliance out of a 52-week low. One, any de-merger news of either the telecom or the retail operations might act as a trigger for the stock. Second, the Street would like to see if the telecom ARPU increases can be sustained going forward. That will create a huge leverage in the individual telecom balance sheet, as well as retail. The maturity of Reliance Retail stores with consumption expected to make a big comeback, after the tax cuts starting from the first half of the next financial year, can be a huge boost for the retail operations. Third, both in terms of the oil to petchem business and some hope of Chinese recovery in terms of downstream product prices, might prop up the overall ROEs provided equity levels stay at manageable levels. These two-three things might work in favour of Reliance over the medium term. What is your current take on the chemical pack because that is one of the export-related plays and what has been happening in Europe, give us some sense that what are you picking up within the chemical basket as well as anything in particular that is looking interesting to you right now? Mayuresh Joshi: Two things, there is one part of the chemical basket which is highly commoditised including players in the soda ash space, for example, where China has a huge dominance and the other spaces which in reality belongs to the specialty chemical space as well where there are niche players and where the expectations in terms of core applications are limited to those niche players.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Washington and Beijing have begun discussions about a potential “birthday summit" in June in the U.S. between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, according to people familiar with the matter.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Even though policymakers in Beijing may be putting up a sanguine show, not all is well with China’s economy. Its latest official data reveals that prices in China fell 0.7% from a year earlier in February, marking the first time in more than a year that the economy is in the grip of deflation.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. THE SELL-OFF shows no sign of stopping. America’s S&P 500 index dropped by another 3% on March 10th, leaving the world’s most watched stockmarket down by almost 9% since its peak last month.

BEIJING — China's latest move to boost consumption isn't meant to jolt all kinds of spending.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The 1 February 2025 Budget’s tax relief measures intended to revive consumption and disposable income, have failed to reverse the tide of foreign portfolio investor (FPI) outflows from key consumption-led sectors like fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and consumer durables. Despite initial optimism, the FMCG sector has witnessed a significant FPI outflows of ₹6,904 crore in February 2025 alone, continuing a trend that began in October 2024 after the markets hit an all-time high in September, showed the latest data from the National Securities Depository (NSDL).

President Donald Trump has spoken of tariffs as a job-creating behemoth.

Indian equities have become one of the worst performers as the world resets its trading rules. For the first time since 2009, Sensex's P/E is trading below that of the Dow. Despite once-rich valuations among emerging markets (EM), foreign investors keep selling even after a sharp correction from last year's peak.

Indo-Pacific could offer an alternative trading framework, but many countries—especially India—will be uneasy about China’s dominant role within it, commented Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times. He set the tone for CUTS International’s webinar on geopolitics last week. The two-session brought together global experts, policymakers, and thought leaders to assess the implications of President Donald Trump’s second term on the Indo-Pacific region’s geopolitics, trade, and security frameworks. Ambassador Meera Shankar, former Indian Ambassador to the U.S., emphasised that “Collective security, collective prosperity, and a rules-based order drive the Indo-Pacific region.” However, she noted that while economic cooperation has progressed, collective security remains a work in progress.

Howard Lutnick has been appointed as new US Commerce Secretary by US President Donald Trump. Lutnick, a strong advocate of tariffs, will play a central role in President Donald Trump’s trade strategy, working closely with the US Trade Representative’s office. His appointment aligns with the administration’s ongoing tariff policies targeting China, Canada, and Mexico. While some duties have been temporarily paused for negotiations, steel and aluminum tariffs are set to take effect on March 12.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The founder of Chinese artificial-intelligence star DeepSeek has rejected proposals to make quick money from his programs, telling prospective investors that he wants to keep the science-project ethos that brought him global renown. Overwhelmed by millions of users, DeepSeek’s chatbot has frequent service hiccups, and authorities around the world are restricting its use over data-security concerns.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Thousands of U.S. companies opened for business on Friday with no idea whether they had to pay tariffs.

Donald Trump has asked U.S. Representative Mike Waltz, a retired Army National Guard officer and combat veteran, to serve as his National Security Adviser. The position, which does not require Senate confirmation, places Waltz at the center of handling several pressing global security challenges, including the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, tensions with China, and the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea. Waltz’s Role and Policy Stance Waltz, a three-term Republican congressman from Florida, is known for his hawkish stance on China and Iran. He has been a sharp critic of the Biden administration’s national security strategy, including the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and handling of Chinese espionage. Waltz has pushed for a tougher U.S. approach to counter China’s influence, calling for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights violations and concerns around COVID-19 origins.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. American defense companies have increased their dominance of the global arms trade, buoyed by European nations snapping up U.S. jet fighters and missiles.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India is ramping up its efforts to break China's dominance in the solar supply chain with a $1 billion capital subsidy plan that’s aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing of wafers and ingots—critical components in solar panel production. While the country has made significant progress in solar module and cell manufacturing, wafer and ingot production remains a weak link, with only 2gigawatts (GW)of capacity compared to 71 GW in modules and 11 GW in cells.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. US President Donald Trump issued executive orders slapping high tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China. For the rest, he has proposed a reciprocal tariff regime, pushing exporting countries to either reduce their respective import duties drastically or be shut out of the US market.

Rodrigo Duterte said in Hong Kong that he was ready for possible arrest amid reports the International Criminal Court (ICC) was poised to issue a warrant over his years-long «war on drugs» that killed thousands. The «war on drugs» was the signature campaign policy that swept Duterte to power in 2016 as a maverick, crime-busting mayor, who delivered on promises he made during vitriolic speeches to kill thousands of narcotics dealers. The office of the current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said on Monday no official communication had been received from Interpol yet, but indicated Duterte could be handed over.

Beijing last week vowed greater efforts to boost consumption in the face of an escalating trade war with the U.S., but analysts expect deflationary pressures in the world's second-largest economy to drag on. The government set the 2025 economic growth target at around 5%, unchanged from last year, while lowering the annual inflation target to around 2% from around 3% last year.