For those that read the Asian shift ForexLive … China data I’d been waiting for was released on Saturday:

  • January new yuan loans, expected is 1100.0bn, prior was 482.5bn – comes in at +1320bn yuan
  • Money supply M0 for January y/y: expected is 9.5%, prior was 7.1% – comes in at +22.5% (cash in circulation higher)
  • Money supply M1 for January y/y: expected is 8.5%, prior was 9.3% – comes in at +1.2%
  • Money supply M2 for January y/y: expected is 13.3%, prior was 13.6% – comes in at +13.2% y/y (China’s broadest measure of money supply, expansion slowed)
  • January total aggregate financing: expected is 1900.0bn, prior was 1230.0bn – comes in at 2580bn yuan (China’s broadest measure of credit)

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Added – recap from The Wall Street Journal (is often gated, so if you’re unable to access the article try a search of Google news using the headline)

  • Chinese bank lending posted a higher-than-expected jump in January
  • Banks in China usually front-load their lending at the beginning of the year, so large increases are common. Still, the stronger-than-expected data suggests government concerns about credit expansion aren’t tamping down borrowing
  • Bank of China Ltd. said the figures indicate strength in the country’s economy despite signs of weakness from the results of recent purchasing manufacturers’ indexes and other data points.
  • “The higher-than-expected new loans showed the traditional pattern by Chinese banks to make more loans at the beginning of the year. But the data also indicated that the real demand from the economy is still robust, though manufacturing PMI pointed to another direction,” said HSBC economist Ma Xiaoping

Chinese Bank Lending Jumps

Also – more from Reuters (ungated): China January lending soars to four-year high

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And, from Bloomberg: China Record New Credit Boosts Outlook for Economic Growth