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."

Sunday, April 1, 2012

China manufacturing accelerating, not decelerating (chart)

So it turns out that there is no "hard landing" for Australia's biggest trading partner, China, with the PMI released today smashing market expectations for a 50.8 print, coming in at an expansionary 53.1. Enclosed below is the time-series Chinese PMI data from Bloomberg. You can see that since the low of 49.0 reached in November last year, Chine manufacturing has rebounded strongly. It is now above its average since 2006 of 52.9...Oh but the RBA should be cutting rates because it would be wonderful for the equities market. Note that the Aussie dollar is also down about 4% since the start of last month.

at 2:26 PM