Themes in China to follow in Year of the Lamb (or Goat)

Expect the yuan’s trend of appreciation to cool: This will certainly happen until a stronger economic growth outlook is in place. In recent years the yuan had been soaring in value against the dollar, making life harder for Chinese exporters of seafood (though increasing the buying power of importers) who find it harder to compete with Southeast Asian counterparts (using weaker currencies) in particular. The Chinese government has often resorted to weakening its currency (to loud protests by major trading partners like the United States) at times of economic uncertainty, to reboot exports. Yet it now says it will refrain from manipulating the currency as it wants to rebalance the economy to one more dependent on domestic consumption and spending rather than a dependency on export industries and infrastructure building.