Dow falls 100 points amid concern China may stop buying US debt

[Eugene]

Source: CNBC

Dow falls 100 points amid concern China may stop buying US debt

• Stocks slipped from record levels at the open.
• Chinese officials think U.S. debt is becoming less attractive compared to other assets, adding that trade tensions between the two countries could provide a reason to slow down or halt the purchases, according to a report.

Alexandra Gibbs | Fred Imbert
Published 4 Hours Ago Updated 2 Mins Ago

U.S. stocks opened lower on Wednesday as concern grew that China may stop buying U.S. sovereign bonds.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 67 points at the open. The S&P 500 declined 0.3 percent, with utilities and tech as the worst-performing sectors. The Nasdaq composite pulled back 0.4 percent.

Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter, that officials in Beijing have recommended the Chinese government lowers — or even stops — its buying of U.S. sovereign debt.

The report also notes that Chinese officials think U.S. debt is becoming less attractive compared to other assets, adding that trade tensions between the two countries could provide a reason to slow down or halt the purchases.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/10/us-stock-futures-dow-fed-speeches-data-politics-on-the-agenda.html

[Iliyah]

1. China stops, we are fucked.

[PatrickforO]

2. Well, Trump has given us the 'gift' of systematically undermining our status as

a global economic and military superpower.

No telling what economic consequences will stem from this - lots of suffering involved, but of course the Wall Street lizards and billionaire parasites will still do just fine. It is Jane and John Q Public who will suffer.

Trump is so stupid, these foreign leaders are literally running circles around him.

[Roland99]

3. At these levels, 100 points means almost nothing

Which cracks me up when Der Twitler touts another 1000 pt level. %-wise it means less and less.

[Fred Sanders]

4. It is a fallacy to suggest America is in trouble if China sells American debt it holds.

The majority of Treasury debt is held domestically. Of the debt held by socerign nations China is less than 30% and dropping.

As long as America is the world's #1 hard currency and #1 economy every country on the planet need American dollars to stabilize it's own currency against speculation, especially if attacked by hard currency speculators.

More details:

https://chinapower.csis.org/us-debt/

[PoliticAverse]

6. "As long as America is the worlds ... #1 economy" - about that...

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-10-18/who-has-the-world-s-no-1-economy-not-the-u-s

[PoliticAverse]

5. This could put a damper on the Fed's efforts to unwind their multi-trillion balance sheet...

http://www.businessinsider.com/fed-statement-balance-sheet-interest-rates-september-meeting-2017-9