CCDI Plenary Session Opens In Beijing; Li Keqiang Reveals 2017 GDP Growth Was 6.9%; Marriott In Trouble For Survey Splittism; Officials Blow Up A Shanxi Church

Good Morning. Next Monday is a national holiday in the US in honor of Martin Luther King, unless something important about China has happened over the weekend there will likely be no newsletter Monday.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) did not like yesterday’s Bloomberg story that US Treasury purchases were under review.

Report on China slowing US bond purchases may be 'fake,' regulator says - Reuters:

"The news could quote the wrong source of information, or may be fake news," the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement published on its website.

The market reaction to that story, whether it was true or not, was briefly overblown before it was mostly dismissed. If someone in Beijing was trying to communicate a “threat” they failed.

Sadly “fake news” is now a common reaction from governments to stories they do not like, even ones which have entire bureaucratic systems to disseminate propaganda.