China — only 20% of the economy working. David Archibald counts President Xi own goals

It’s too expensive to close borders, they say, but who can afford to import this virus?

Should we stop holidays and conferences, or most of the economy?

The monthly PMI figures show that in February about four fifths of China’s economy was shut down. Locking people in apartments and hospitals being not very productive. Strangely, all the economists watching the mainstream news and official Chinese figures did not expect this. They were shocked when the monthly PMI result was announced. The drop from 50 to 35 was more than twice as bad as the economists expected.

China PMI horror show to trigger Q1 downgrades

Umesh Desai, Asia Times

China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index in February plunged to 35.7 from 50 in January. This is the lowest reading since January 2005 when it was first released and even lower than November 2008’s figure of 38.8 during the Global Financial Crisis.

The market had expected a reading of around 46, according to a Reuters poll and this shocking data had analysts recalibrating their numbers.

The ANZ economists said this implied the utilization of only a fifth of the country’s full economic capacity, much lower than the […]