Error creating thumbnail: convert: unable to open image `/home/wikinvest/src_live_2/mediawiki/images/9/9f/Global_thinking.svg.png': No such file or directory @ blob.c/OpenBlob/2480. convert: unable to open file `/home/wikinvest/src_live_2/mediawiki/images/9/9f/Global_thinking.svg.png' @ png.c/ReadPNGImage/2889. convert: missing an image filename `/home/wikinvest/src_live_2/mediawiki/images/thumb/9/9f/Global_thinking.svg.png/30px-Global_thinking.svg.png' @ convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/2800.
|This article describes a concept which could impact a variety of companies, countries or industries. To see what companies and articles reference this concept page, click here.|
This article discusses the valuation of the yuan relative to the US dollar. For more information on the currency, see Chinese Renminbi (CNY)
Many argue that the Chinese currency is undervalued relative to the U.S. dollar due to the Bretton Wood II system, yet some senior Chinese leaders have repeatedly stressed that Yuan is not undervalued, and an appreciation of the Chinese RMB could not reduce the trade imbalance between the U.S. and China. There is likely no definite answer academically or economically of what an equilibirum Yuan exchange rate should be. Since the beginning of 2010, undervaluations of anywhere between 0% to 40% have been reported by the press.
The U.S. possesses several mechanisms to seek a rebalancing of this exchange rate, including working through the IMF and the WTO. A higher priced Chinese currency could help U.S. exports to China, but harm the real estate market and interest rates in the U.S. On the other hand, a currency revaluation will yield a relatively lower cost for raw materials for Chinese manufacturers.
The Treasury Department and Congress continue to wring their hands about the value of the Chinese dollar. Savvy investors may wish to look beyond the sound bites to see how a revaluation of the Chinese currency will affect U.S.-China trade and particular companies. There may be significant winners and losers from a revaluation, especially in the finance, retail, and consumer goods sectors. Even investments in companies wholly unrelated to China could be affected due to their exposure to worldwide currency risk or interest rates.
I've read a lot about forex, but I've never seen a proven poabitrfle forex strategy, despite the claims of some scam sites. Play Forex can be beautiful, but most people who try to lose money. All you need to do is do a web search for the word forex or lose this consensus. Forex is what we a zero sum game. Doing a bet with someone else, whether the currency will rise or fall. For every winner is a loser. If you're smarter than the average player, you can earn money. If you're stupider than the average player, you're likely to lose money. Most people make a bet Forex are highly trained professionals in banks and other institutions. You are likely to beat them in this game. In fact, forex is not quite a zero-sum game. This is something with a negative sum game forex brokers seems a bit of time to spread. It is a small amount, but more than a hundred stores, it ends up being a lot of money. So the average player is likely to lose money, and I remember the average player is a highly trained professional, and probably smarter than a lot of luck sine4.On Forex, and if you play it, you have the time when you make your money. This is usually because you have a happy pipe, not because you suddenly become an expert Forex player. However, most people do not want to admit that their success is due to luck. They become convinced that they have a workable system, and lose a lot of money trying to improve it. The problem is complicated by the large number of Forex scams on the Internet. Most forex sites are questionable honesty. You'll find many people online who claim to be doing a lot of money using Forex. They are usually liars trying to make money. They say: Go Forexcrap, com/q2347. Q2347 place Forexcrap signal are transferred to q2347 . If you sell something, q2347 gets a payoff. These coded signals can be hidden by different methods here. Other people will take you to your own website or blog is intended to try to make money from you. In addition, there is a good amount of trolls out there who want to pretend that they managed forex just for fun. I would advise trying to make forex at all, if you are a trained professional. It's like playing poker with people better than you always take a small house in a pot.
There are multiple forces that could impact China in its decision about raising the value of the renminbi relative to the U.S. dollar:
"In all cases in which the CONTRACTING PARTIES are called upon to consider or deal with problems concerning monetary reserves, balances of payments or foreign exchange arrangements, they shall consult fully with the International Monetary Fund. In such consultations, the CONTRACTING PARTIES shall accept all findings of statistical and other facts presented by the Fund relating to foreign exchange, monetary reserves and balances of payments, and shall accept the determination of the Fund as to whether action by a contracting party in exchange matters is in accordance with the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund, or with the terms of a special exchange agreement between that contracting party and the CONTRACTING PARTIES.”
Thus, the WTO could not contravene any IMF findings related to the appropriateness of China’s exchange mechanism. If the United States pursues a revaluation of the renminbi through the WTO and/or the IMF, this has the advantage of multilateralizing the pressure on China and removing any Chinese hesitance to kowtowing to a particular country; however it may also be a slower, more politically fraught process as other IMF and WTO members try to use the situation for their own political gain in their relations with China.
One impact of a rising renminbi relative to the dollar is that U.S. imports into China will become relatively cheaper. This would spur the sales of U.S. imports that are highly price-elastic, such as consumer goods. Imported U.S. consumer goods would suddenly appear to be cheaper to the Chinese consumer, while the price advantage of locally made good would erode somewhat.
However the impact of a change in exchange rate should not be overestimated. For products and services that require large amounts of unskilled or semi-skilled labor, Chinese products will still be significantly less expensive than imported products because Chinese wages are so much lower than Western wages that even a doubling of the value of the renminbi would not make the West a lower-cost provider of some products.
If the U.S. dollar falls in relation to the renminbi, it may be time to consider buying Euros or Euro-denominated stocks, bonds, and indexes. In order to raise the value of the renminbi relative to the U.S. dollar, the Chinese government will likely purchase less U.S. dollars with its foreign exchange reserves. In exchange, one likely currency that China might purchase more of is the Euro, given its large float. As a result, the value of the Euro will climb relative to the dollar. This may lead to more U.S. imports from Europe over time On the other hand, private investors seeking a relatively undervalued currency may invest in more dollar-denominated instruments if the Euro rises too high, thus reducing the split between the two currencies.
China’s financial institutions are still maturing. If the renminbi is valued based on market-driven factors, the volatility this may trigger in its value might be beyond the capabilities of Chinese banks to manage. Thus, while the renminbi-denominated deposits of these banks will rise in value, Chinese banks, such as Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of China, and[China CITIC Bank Co. may be a less attractive.
On the other hand, this will reduce China’s overall money supply because the Chinese Central Bank will be converting less foreign currency into renminbi. Accordingly, Chinese banks may have to be more careful in their loan decisions, which will aid the long term health of China’s financial sector.
The price of Chinese imports into the United States will rise. This will affect the profitability of mass-market retailers, such as Wal-Mart Stores and Target Stores who rely on volume sales of lower-margin goods. Over the long-term, if the renminbi continues to appreciate, this means that major overseas producers such as Nike would shift more of their production to other developing countries, such as Vietnam.
The relatively low value of the renminbi also subsidizes the purchasing power of U.S. households. An increase in the price of Chinese imports, due to a more valuable renminbi, would be the functional equivalent of a tax hike on the U.S. consumer. And this tax would be somewhat regressive, because higher income households may be less likely to buy lower cost imports from China; and, regardless, a smaller percentage of wealthier households’ income is spent on such imports.
In order to support its currency, China may be forced to reduce its foreign exchange reserves. This will trigger a sell-off of dollars and potentially the need for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in order to support the U.S. dollar. Until now, borrowing from China has led to low interest rates for U.S. consumers. A change in interest rates would have dramatic effect on residential real estate prices, mortgage lenders and impact housing companies. Companies impacted would include Countrywide, FannieMae, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.
Without China’s purchases of dollar-based assets, which is how it currently stabilizes the renminbi, the U.S. the dollar would be lower and [Rising Interest Rates|U.S. interest rates]] would be higher. This means that China is subsidizing U.S. interest rates. Both American corporate and individual borrowers and would pay a higher price without the dollar-recycling aspects of Chinese currency policy. Thus, in addition to prospective homeowners facing higher mortgage rates, corporations that rely heavily on debt to finance their business, such as utilities like FPL, TXU, and Sempra Energy would face earnings pressure from a shift in the value of the renminbi.
A rising renminbi would result in the shuttering of marginally profitable manufacturers in export industries in China. This would trigger a significant loss of job and possible domestic unrest in China. In order to combat job losses, the Chinese government may have to resort to increased public spending. To the extent the Chinese government spends on infrastructure, this would benefit companies like Parsons and Bechtel.
Some economists have suggested that a strengthening of the renminbi will not make a significant impact in the U.S. trade deficit with China. More influential impacts on the trade deficit are the appetite of U.S. consumers for lower-cost goods and the low savings rate of U.S. consumers combined with ongoing budget deficits.
Because the U.S. has a far lower domestic savings rate than China, the United States is importing surplus saving from abroad to grow and finance its private and public deficits. China is merely the lowest-cost provider of such capital, and a higher-priced renminbi alone will not impact the United States’ appetite for foreign capital investment, and the concordant current account deficits.
China is competing with other Asian economies. As a result, much of the rise of the U.S. trade surplus with China is correlated with a fall in the U.S. trade deficit with other developing economies. Thus, even if the U.S-China deficit could be impacted by an increase in value of the renminbi, offshore production may just shift to another developing country and the U.S. will continue to run the same overall worldwide trade deficit.
Recent data from the U.S. Department of Commerce showing the share of total U.S. imports of selected locations highlights this trend:
As the graph illustrates, even though total U.S. imports from China increased dramatically, U.S. imports from East Asia (representing China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines) fell as a percentage of total U.S. imports. This shows that many Chinese exports to the U.S. likely did not impact the overall U.S. trade balance with China because it was a mere shifting of production from one Asian country to another. In fact, imports from East Asia as a share of total imports has been falling since the mid-1990s, despite the growth in U.S.-China trade.
An increase in the value of the renminbi may have little effect on U.S. exports and jobs for several reasons. First, Chinese manufacturers will have more buying power when purchasing raw materials from abroad, thus enabling them to keep down some of their key costs.
Economic studies, such as the 2004 Economic Report of the President by the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, suggest that imports from China have affected few U.S. jobs. This conclusion was reached by determining that most U.S. job losses were in industries where China was not a significant competitive force. In 2005, Alan Greenspan echoed this sentiment in a hearing held by the Senate Finance Committee, stating that “I am aware of no credible evidence that support such a conclusion” that “a marked increase in the exchange value of the Chinese renminbi relative to the dollar would significantly increase manufacturing activity and jobs in the United States.”
In order to allow the renminbi to rise in value, China could establish a more accessible, market-driven currency exchange mechanism. A side effect of this mechanism would be greater capital mobility for Chinese companies and individuals who wish to exchange their renminbi for U.S. dollars, perhaps because they would like to invest in the U.S. capital markets or consider the dollar to be undervalued. The resultant rise of the dollar from these exchanges might offset any benefits accruing to U.S. exporters from a stronger renminbi.
China’s continued buildup of massive foreign exchange reserves creates a significant investment challenge for China’s central bank and its financial sector as a whole. China’s central bank now has over $1 trillion of foreign currency to invest. Recent rumblings in Beijing suggest some of these funds will be put into a special investment fund. On March 9, 2007, the Chinese government announced it would set up a foreign exchange investment company to make better use of its massive foreign exchange reserve. The model for this entity will be Temasek Holdings of Singapore, which manages that city-state’s foreign exchange investment. The new company will be under the direct leadership of the State Council, or the cabinet, instead of the finance ministry. This means that there will be dramatically increased direct Chinese investment overseas through vehicles other than government-backed securities.
Another challenge created by the current, semi-fixed exchange rate regime and its correspondent foreign exchange reserve is the massive availability of credit to Chinese banks. China has been trying to reform its economy, in part, through a reduction in loss-making state-owned commercial enterprises. The availability of massive amounts of cheap credit from the central bank does little to discourage Chinese banks from continuing to lend to these otherwise insolvent institutions and thus pass the insolvency from the commercial entity into China’s banking system.