The Chinese political system has seen an unprecedented level of centralization thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak and this will be the new normal.
Beijing released the major economic data for the first two months of 2020 this morning after the Federal Reserve cut rates to zero.
A global slowdown causes more troubles for Chinese exporters and forces Beijing to accept lower growth in 2020.
The PBOC seems more in line with the view that the COVID-19 is a supply-side shock and easing monetary policy can only help to a certain extent.
A set of China’s cyberspace regulations kicked in on 1 March to manage the “internet ecosystem”.
While the COVID-19 outbreak is drawing all the attention in the market, the phase-1 trade deal between China and the U.S. officially went into effect on 14 February. China was on track to fulfill its commitments, mostly related to regulatory reforms. But it is impossible for Beijing to deliver the total purchase volume for 2020 thanks to the U.S. travel ban as well as shrinking Chinese demand.
Chinese markets have seen remarkably different reactions to the COVID-19 outbreak over the past few weeks. The A-share market has fully recovered from the 12% sell-off in late January and early February. It has now rebounded back to where it was before the outbreak with the CSI 300 index up 1% year-to-date.