China Beige Book International is a quarterly survey that uses the same methodology as the Federal Reserve Beige Book (i.e. "How you doin'?") to assess the economy

Its a survey of 3,100 Chinese firms and 160 bankers, and the picture it paints is not pretty:

  • New growth engines ... increasingly wobbly
  • Corporate cash flow is squeezed
  • Beijing doubles down on traditional engines to stabilize output
  • "This is not a stable economy ...There are real problems below the surface"
  • Growth in China's service industry weakened during the third quarter
  • Financial services, private healthcare, telecommunications, media and other subsectors flagged, the group's data showed
  • While property sales remained strong in major cities, cash flow in the sector tightened and borrowing increased

If you haven't jumped out of a high window already, here's the link for more! (may be gated, probably a good thing for the faint of heart)

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Earlier on China ... not so bad:

  • China economy showing signs of strength say early indicators for September
  • Growth in export, recovery in power consumption will help to stabilize the growth in consumption
  • HSBC expects the PBOC to remain accommodative to support growth