Rate cuts and real estate; Heat, drought and power; Taiwan; Jimmy Lai
Summary of today’s top items:
Rate cuts and moves to stabilize real estate market - The fact that the policymakers appear to have been surprised by the mortgage strikes and unfinished building mess may be another sign that they have a weak grasp of the hidden risks in the economy, and especially around real estate. The latest moves - rate cuts and loan support for some developers - do not seem like nearly enough to change sentiment, but I am not sure anything will do that until we get past dynamic zero-Covid.
Heat, drought, power outages, fires - The heat wave and drought continues, with increasing impacts on power production, manufacturing and daily life in Chongqing and Sichuan, and downstream, literally, effects into other parts of the country. Relief from the heat may come this week, but the drought and subsequent hydropower deficit will be around longer.
Outbreaks - Sun Chunlan, a vice premier and the Covid czar, has left Hainan after eight days, in another sign that the works of t…