Coronavirus

China needs a Covid target more than a GDP target

2 Dec 2022

After a wave of protests, officials are preparing citizens to live with the virus. Beijing has plenty of economic goals, quotas and deadlines but no published plan for epidemiological transition. There are many templates. What’s key is picking one, and sticking to it.

China’s messy options for ending zero-Covid

1 Dec 2022

Protests broke out across the People’s Republic this week as authorities tightened lockdowns to contain the virus. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists discuss the difficulties of walking back a policy that leader Xi Jinping has convinced the country is necessary.

China Covid ills go from bad to chronically worse

28 Nov 2022

Nationwide protests will pressure Beijing to ease strict lockdowns. Yet officials have dragged their feet for the past two years: some 27 mln elderly are unjabbed and they face a shortage of hospital beds. These failures are quickly narrowing China’s reopening options.

Protests leave China facing a terrible trilemma

28 Nov 2022

Officials’ muddled response to spiking Covid cases has set off unrest spanning cities and social classes. The government, having wasted over two years declaring victory, must now deal with political instability, contain disease and salvage growth. There is no easy way out.

Capital Calls: Fuzzy Fedspeak, Dr. Martens

24 Nov 2022

Concise views on global finance: The U.S. central bank has left traders guessing the meaning of the word “various”; shares in the recently listed British bootmaker fell 20% after sales missed expectations, and a warning that its investment needs will hurt profitability.

Capital Calls: Ticketmaster and Taylor Swift

18 Nov 2022

Concise views on global finance: A meltdown involving the pop star’s upcoming “Eras” concert tour is attracting an audience on Capitol Hill and risks an unwanted corporate fight with the artist herself.

Investors ignore China Covid spike at their peril

18 Nov 2022

Shares have rallied on signs President Xi Jinping is embracing pragmatism and easing up on crackdowns in real estate and tech. Shaking hands with U.S. President Joe Biden helped, too. However, Beijing might also be losing control of the virus. Policy relaxations may be moot.

Capital Calls: Twitter ads, Supervoting stock

11 Nov 2022

Concise views on global finance: Elon Musk is giving big brands an easy out – and a drain on advertising is harder for Twitter to overcome than Facebook; a dual-class share structure enabled the ousted CEO of TuSimple to team up with his co-founder and sack the board.

Pfizer’s heft smacks Moderna’s one-hit wonder

3 Nov 2022

Moderna warned of manufacturing woes this year and a move to a more cut-throat commercial market. Its production of the Covid vaccine is increasingly competing against Pfizer’s strengths. Regaining its gloss means success in developing new vaccines.

Foxconn factory chaos bursts China’s Covid bubble

31 Oct 2022

The Apple supplier is scrambling to stem a potential 30% fall in iPhone shipments from a key factory as workers flee infection controls. Such disruptions are a recurrent risk under Beijing’s pandemic policy. It’s a big incentive to shift supply chains elsewhere, however painful.

Xi’s contract with China needs more signatures

23 Oct 2022

The president has effectively secured a third term. His prize: a country traumatised by pandemic lockdowns and crashing real estate. There are some relatively easy things Xi Jinping can do to compensate his citizens; the next five years will test whether he can grasp them.

Capital Calls: Adidas

21 Oct 2022

Concise views on global finance: The 19 bln euro sportswear maker slashed its 2022 revenue outlook, dragging shares down 10%.

Capital Calls: TSMC

13 Oct 2022

Concise views on global finance: The $324 bln Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing barely addressed questions regarding U.S. technology export controls on China during its earnings call.

China’s dreary Golden Week has shades of grey

10 Oct 2022

Domestic tourism sales during the country's top holiday fell to less than 50% of pre-pandemic levels. Cities like Shanghai might get a welcome boost from shoppers that stayed put, but the sector drives roughly 30% of consumption. That’s cold comfort for the weakening economy.

Capital Calls: Chevron, Pickleball

29 Sep 2022

Concise views on global finance: The oil driller has sold its California headquarters building and is moving employees to Texas, while one of the fastest-growing U.S. games is beefing up its professional ambitions with an investment from basketball superstar LeBron James.

Silicon Valley’s post-Covid brain drain

27 Sep 2022

Before the pandemic, 75% of venture capital was invested in California, New York and Massachusetts. In this Exchange podcast, AOL co-founder Steve Case explains that a hybrid working revolution is reversing that trend and encouraging permanent investment away from the coasts.

Hong Kong’s opening leaves it long way from normal

23 Sep 2022

The city will no longer quarantine arrivals. It may lure Wall Street bosses to a key banking summit. But with China's mainland unlikely to reciprocate access, Hong Kong will go on struggling. Its recessionary status is leader John Lee’s best hope of winning more relaxations.

China congress will keep investors catastrophizing

13 Sep 2022

The twice-a-decade meeting in October is likely to secure President Xi Jinping a third term. Hopes Beijing will then relax about politics and focus on propping up growth may be misplaced. As the economy slumps, investors look set to fixate on signs of the worst, not the best.

Hong Kong seeks VIP cure for strategic ills

7 Sep 2022

Central bank boss Eddie Yue wants to lure global financiers to the city's November confab, but they’re unlikely to agree without quarantine waivers. That risks local ire, but Yue has little choice. Hong Kong is losing ground. If the elite can’t come, opportunity may go elsewhere.

China’s test kit stock bubble loses air

2 Sep 2022

Officials have tested citizens for Covid-19 nearly 12 billion times, blowing up sales at firms like Daan Gene, where profit popped 130% in the first half. But rising capacity, price caps and payment delays are making investors anxious. This corporate welfare party is winding down.