by Jeffrey P. Snider
Alhambra Partners
There are those who believe that the Chinese economy has stabilized, as if that was a good thing. Many of these people, mostly economists, said and declared much the same after 2012. That China’s economy might be in 2016 merely as bad as it was in 2015 is a highly negative development, one which requires standards for economic judgment to be still further reduced, starting with “stimulus.”
The latest data from across the Pacific shows that nothing has changed, save one factor. Industrial Production grew by just 6.1% in September, down slightly but not really from the 6.3% in August. IP has been at or below 6.3% in all but two of the 19 months dating back to last March.