Earlier this morning, there have been some completely unfounded speculation of a Chinese coup. And this is all. To get some additional color, we go to Chinese macro expert Andy Lees, who incidentally has have left the churn factory known as UBS, and is now at AML Macro Ideas. Here is his take.
I am an hour and a half behind the market, but there has been some chatter of a coup in China. An article on the web [7]says "Over the night of March 19th and early morning of March 20th, Beijing local time, a message about a large number of military police showing up in Beijing spread widely across microblogs in mainland China. The key figures in the action are said to be Hu Jianto, the head of the CCP, Wen Jiabao, the premier; Zhou Yongkjang who has control of the People's Republic of China's police forces; and Bo Xilai who was dismissed from his post as the head of Chongqing City Communist Party on March 15th by Wen Jiabao after a scandal involving Bo's former police chief". The article does not really say anything beyond that. Some people have dismissed the troops as security for a North Korean delegation. It could also be to head off any demonstrations against the fuel price hikes.
A second article says that around New Year's day 2 airforce officers were arrested on suspicion of plotting a coup, and a nuclear submarine on potrol was ordered back to port because they were thought to have links with the plotters.
There may be absolutely no truth in any of this, but if there is the possible consequences could be enormous for the global economy, for Chinese economic policy response - (remember the cheques that Saudi Arabia wrote to buy calm in the Arab Spring) - and for market volatility generally.
So there you have it: in short - it may be too early to discount anything, especially in the aftermath of the Bo Xilai party coup [8]. One thing is certain, do not expect to find any media confirmation or validation of these rumors.