Yuan

The first news overnight came from the RBA which kept the target cash rate at 2.75% and following a warning that the AUD remains at a high levels (despite falling 10%), saw various AUD pairs slide. Which meant that all those correlation desks which had linked their rising ES signals to the AUDJPY and AUDUSD, would have to promptly recalibrate and find something else to "carry" them higher. That something was the Yen, as the USDJPY once again rose to just shy of the 100 resistance area, in the process pushing the Penikkeistock higher by 1.8% and above 14k, to 14,099 to be precise. Supposedly the Yen carry trade is back and all good again, or until such time as the 10 year hits 1% and the entire farce is repeated once more. However, at least Abenomics has bought itself a few weeks reprieve for the time being.

A busy week, with a bevy of significant data releases, starting with the already reported PMIs out of China and Europe (as well as unemployment and inflation numbers from the Old World), the US Manufacturing and Services PMI, another Bill Dudley speech on Tuesday, US factory orders, statements by the ECB and BOE, where Goldman's new head Mark Carney will preside over his first meeting, and much more in a holiday shortened US week.

Here's my take on the key events for investors in the week ahead, with an attempt to place them in a somewhat larger context.

Last week's liquidity crunch and market panic is a reminder that Beijing is playing a difficult game. Regardless of what happens next, the consensus expectations that China's economy will grow at roughly 7 percent over the next few years can be safely ignored. Growth driven by consumption, instead of trade and investment, is alone sufficient to grow China's GDP by 3 to 4 percent annually. But it is not clear that consumption can be sustained if investment growth levels are sharply reduced. If Beijing can successfully manage the employment consequences of decreased investment growth, perhaps it can keep consumption growing at current levels. But that's a tricky proposition. It's likely that the days of the super-powered Chinese economy are over. Instead, Beijing must content itself with grinding its way through the debt that has accumulated over the past decade.

On Tuesday the People’s Bank of China agreed to inject money to stop the shortage that was occurring and that was already a change of attitude.

• Fashionable 'Risk Parity' Funds Hit Hard (WSJ)
• No 1997 Asian Crisis Return as China Trembles (BBG)
• Greece Faces Collapse of Second Key Privatization (FT)
• China Bad-Loan Alarm Sounded by Record Bank Spread Jump (BBG)
• Iranian official signals no scaling back in nuclear activity (Reuters)
• Asmussen Says Any QE Discussions at ECB Not Policy Relevant (BBG)
• Flat Japanese consumer prices aid Kuroda (FT)
• Vietnam Devalues Dong for First Time Since ’11 to Boost Reserves (BBG)
• World Bank Sees ‘Vulnerable’ Food System on Climate Change (BBG)
• Fed big-hitters seek to quash QE fears (FT)
• EU Leaders Set to Slow Support for Ailing Banks (BBG)

In the aftermath of the record cash crunch in the Chinese interbank market, many financial institutions in China and abroad have been hoping that the PBOC would either end its stance of aloof detachment or at least break its vow of silence and if not act then at a minimum promise good times ahead. Alas, despite repeated confusion in various press reports that it has done that, it hasn't aside from the occasional "behind the scenes" bank bailout. And at today's Lujiazui Financial Forum, PBOC governor Zhou Xiaochuan kept the status quo saying the central bank will adjust liquidity "at the proper time to ensure market stability." That time, however, is not now.

• Hilsenrising interest rates Business Feels Pinch of Swift Rate Rise (WSJ)
• Yellen Betting Defies 100-Year Jinx of Fed No. 2 Never Elevated (BBG)
• No sign of cyber leaker Snowden on flight to Cuba (Reuters)
• Back to the Future 2 is finally coming: Honda Sees ‘Flying Sports Car’ Making Profit by Decade’s End (BBG)
• Europe’s Richest Person Kamprad to Move Back to Sweden (BBG)
• Li’s Shock Treatment to China Lenders Evokes Ex-Reformer (BBG)
• In India, Gold-Related Shares Melt Down (WSJ)
• Citigroup Opens in Iraq to Tap $1 Trillion of Oil Spending (BBG)
• France warned on budget deficit  (FT)

It was bound to happen some might say. We were warned! Chinese banks have stopped lending due to pressure from liquidity deposits. Some branches of the Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China have issued statements in which they announce that they are halting lending for a temporary period.

If one thought the schizophrenic lies out of Europe between 2010 and 2013 were bad enough (the bulk of which it now appears were orchestrated by Mario Draghi), here comes China, a country which already has a "credibility" issue so to say, which has no choice but to lie as blatantly as possible in order to preserve some semblance of stability. The reason: as first forecast here months ago, and as has subsequently materialized, the credit/liquidity collapse in the country that lives and breathes on credit creation is rippling through the banking sector and causing unprecedented fallout for a financial industry that is already starved for every marginal yuan. Not unexpectedly following news that various retail and online banking services had been impaired in the early part of the week at China's biggest banks, now Caixin reports that banks are simply shutting lending to both businesses and individuals.

What magic Chinese rabbit has been pulled out of the hat now?

• Here come the rolling blackouts: Obama takes on power plant emissions as part of climate plan (Reuters)
• Walking Back Bernanke Wished on Too Much Information (BBG)
• As previewed last week: Bridgewater "All Weather" is Mostly Cloudy, down 8% YTD (Reuters)
• U.S. Said to Explore Possible China Role in Snowden Leaks (BBG)
• Coeure Says No Doubt ECB Loose Monetary Policy Exit Distant (Bloomberg)... so a "recovery", but not at all
• U.S. steps up pressure on Russia as Snowden stays free (Reuters)
• Texas' Next Big Oil Rush: New Pipelines Ferrying Landlocked Crude Expected to Boost Gulf Coast Refiners (WSJ)
• Singapore Offsets Bankers as Vacancies Fall (BBG)
• Asian Stocks Fall as China Sinks Deeper Into Bear Market (BBG), European Stocks Rally With Bonds as Metals Advance (BBG)
• Qatar emir hands power to son, no word on prime minister (Reuters)

Overview of the great unwind, which I suggest has three components--tapering talk in the US, Japanese selling foreign assets and the liquidity squeeze in China (squeezing another carry carry trade).

Both the U.S. and China are now attempting to deflate asset bubbles. The former is likely to have second thoughts while the latter isn't.

• Turmoil Exposes Global Risks (WSJ)
• China Money Rates Retreat After PBOC Said to Inject Cash (BBG)
• Fed Seen by Economists Trimming QE in September, 2014 End (BBG)
• Booz Allen, the World's Most Profitable Spy Organization (BBG)
• Abe’s Arrows of Growth Dulled by Japan’s Three Principles (BBG)
• China steps back from severe cash crunch (FT)
• Smog at Hazardous as Singapore, Jakarta Spar Over Fires (BBG)
• U.S. Weighs Doubling Leverage Standard for Biggest Banks (BBG)