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."

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Correction: China as strong as ten men...

From Macquarie's Rory Robertson:

In the best news on the global economy in the past 48 hours, it turns out that both the RBA and I “screwed up” badly by distributing a badly flawed chart on Chinese industrial production. 

The corrected chart - reproduced below and now updated on the RBA’s website shows an ongoing steep uptrend in Chinese IP, nothing like the stalling in activity shown in the flawed chart distributed by the RBA on Tuesday and me yesterday evening.

Apologies to all concerned. I would immediately have nailed the error 20 years ago as a diligent young grad at the RBA, but got sloppy in my hurried old age, rushing to see the kids before bedtime.

Bottom line: The latest seasonally-adjusted data from the RBA suggest that Chinese industrial production remains as strong as ten men, even twenty.


at 6:01 PM