“Second-child concept stocks.”; What to Expect When You’re Expecting a Baby Boom; China’s Easing of One-Child Limit Sparks a Rally in Kid-Related Shares

What to Expect When You’re Expecting a Baby Boom

China’s Easing of One-Child Limit Sparks a Rally in Kid-Related Shares

ISABELLA STEGER And LAURIE BURKITT

Nov. 18, 2013 1:55 p.m. ET

It will take at least nine months for the cooing, crying, bouncing results to appear, but the easing of China’s one-child policy has already created a frenzy of anticipation among households, businesses and the stock market for the expected baby boomlet. Shares of baby-formula producers and even piano makers jumped Monday when markets opened for the first time after news of the policy change came out late Friday. Tutoring companies’ shares rose on the assumption that urban families would expect their second children to produce the same academic excellence they demand from their first. Read more of this post

Taking Care of China Inc.

Taking Care of China Inc.

ALEX FRANGOS

Nov. 18, 2013 9:07 a.m. ET

China’s corporate behemoths are here to stay, but some of their advantages are set to erode a bit. There may even be something in it for investors. President Xi Jinping‘s grand plan for reform—announced late last week in a document following an important Communist Party meeting—treads softly on China’s biggest state-owned companies, who many say are rife with overcapacity, corruption and distortions that disadvantage private-sector players. The aim seems to be not to loosen the grip of the state-owned enterprises to create a level playing field, but to make them work better to maintain the Communist Party’s hold on power. Read more of this post

Paranoia from Soviet Union collapse haunts China’s Communist Party, 22 years on

Paranoia from Soviet Union collapse haunts China’s Communist Party, 22 years on

Monday, 18 November, 2013, 3:44pm

Cary Huang cary.huang@scmp.com

Party cadres made to watch documentaries on failure of Russian communism, by new leader determined not to see history repeat

In the heyday of Sino-Soviet socialist brotherhood in the 1950s, Chinese liked to say that “today’s Soviet Union is tomorrow’s China”, as Beijing faithfully followed Moscow’s every footstep in development. But since the collapse of communist rule and the Soviet Union in early 1990s, the old saying has become an evil omen haunting China’s communist leaders.  Read more of this post

Jim Rogers: Biggest Event of Next 10-20 Years Just Happened in China

Nov 18, 2013

Jim Rogers: Biggest Event of Next 10-20 Years Just Happened in China

By Kevin Kingsbury

The initial reaction from many following this month’s key gathering of communist-party leaders in China was of disappointment as Tuesday’s blueprint left much to be desired. But on Friday came a significantly more in-depth document regarding issues like land reform, easing of the one-child policy and cleaning up pollution. Read more of this post

He Xinming has just one job and one life mission – Dongpeng, China’s largest ceramic tile manufacturer.

The good earth
Grace Cao 
Monday, November 18, 2013

He Xinming has just one job and one life mission – Dongpeng Holdings Company. “Chinese love ceramic products. That’s why our country is named China,” chuckles the 57-year-old chairman of the largest mainland ceramic tile manufacturer. At first glance, there appears nothing special about the entrepreneur, who is of average height and build. He seems a bit defensive at the start of the conversation but quickly loosens up when asked about his career. Read more of this post

Guangzhou announces new property curbs

Guangzhou announces new property curbs

Xinhua

2013-11-19

The municipal government of Guangzhou, the capital of south China’s Guangdong province, spelled out new rules to cool down the property market on Monday, following moves by three other mega-cities. The government will increase down payments for second-home purchasers from the current level of no less than 60% of the property value, according to a government statement. Read more of this post

Chinese Steer Billions Abroad in Quest for Safety: Real Estate

Chinese Steer Billions Abroad in Quest for Safety: Real Estate

More than a dozen Chinese developers gathered for breakfast at a Los Angeles hotel one Sunday earlier this month before taking off for meetings with property brokers, attorneys and potential business partners. The visitors, none of whom have invested in U.S. real estate development before, would then catch an evening flight to San Jose, California, and meet with more property executives there and in nearby San Francisco. In all, they would stop in six cities over 14 days, including New York and Washington. Read more of this post

China’s Pharma Potential Diminished

China’s Pharma Potential Diminished

By Drew Armstrong November 14, 2013

Big Pharma thought China had the cure for two conditions the industry had long endured: anemic sales growth in developed markets and revenue erosion because of competition from generics. Unfortunately for Western giants, the China effect wore off fast. While sales in the country for eight foreign drugmakers, including GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Pfizer (PFE), and Merck (MRK), climbed 40 percent in 2011, growth has dwindled to 20 percent this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The main cause of the decline is a slowdown in the Chinese economy. A corruption crackdown threatens to pull down sales further. Read more of this post

China’s Bold Reform Plans Don’t Mean Much Yet

China’s Bold Reform Plans Don’t Mean Much Yet

The world appeared to change on Nov. 15, the day bold and epochal reforms were unveiled that promised to overhaul one of the world’s biggest economies. Analysts, investors and historians alike rejoiced at the audacity of the plan. That was Japan. On Nov. 15, 2012, Shinzo Abe, then one month away from becoming prime minister, pledged “unlimited” stimulus and the kind of supply-side policies for which investors had long been clamoring. A year later, the buzz is gone, and not a single structural reform has been implemented. Abe’s record should give pause to those now rushing to praise Xi Jinping for a Chinese reform document that is as vague as it appears bold. Read more of this post

China to Move Slowly on One-Child Law Reform

China to Move Slowly on One-Child Law Reform

LAURIE BURKITT

Nov. 17, 2013 2:39 p.m. ET

China is easing its one-child policy as part of a blueprint of economic and social reforms drawn up by the Communist Party leadership. Professor and demographer Feng Wang tells Deborah Kan why the country needs more babies to support its aging population.

BEIJING—China’s family-planning agency is projecting a slow rollout for an easing of its one-child policy, signaling the government’s reluctance to quickly amend a law that has been in place for decades. Read more of this post

China Reshapes Landscape for Firms From Alibaba to GM

China Reshapes Landscape for Firms From Alibaba to GM

China’s planned economic reforms are poised to reshape the competitive landscape, allowing private firms such as Alibaba Group Holdings Inc. to compete with state-owned banks, and easing the one-child policy to bolster markets for companies from Nestle SA (NESN) to General Motors Co. (GM) China’s financial sector is set to change with plans that include a new registration system for initial public offerings and allowing qualified private investors to set up small-to-medium sized banks. That has progressed in the past few months as Tencent Holdings Ltd. (700), Asia’s biggest Internet company, is part of a group applying for a banking license in China. Read more of this post

China Adopts “New” GDP-Boosting Accounting System

China Adopts “New” GDP-Boosting Accounting System

Tyler Durden on 11/18/2013 11:02 -0500

China’s GDP is about to undergo the same magic that US GDP received earlier in the year. The “Chinese system of National Accounts” will see five significant adjustments that are expected to (surprise) boost the size of the nation’s estimate of its GDP. The National Bureau of Statistics is considering making the changes to reflect the latest economic and social developments and implement the reform guidelines unveiled at the 3rd Plenum recently. From the addition of research and development – intellectual properrty – (just as the US did) to including mark-to-market changes (read rises) in employee stock options and real estate in consumption data, the Chinese appear dead set on making a once-unbelievably goal-seeked number into an entirely fantastical representation of reality (which of course enables moar higher manipulation as to avoid any debt-to-gdp hurdles that the real world might see as a concern). Read more of this post

1964, 1969, 1972: the cream of China’s entrepreneurial crop

1964, 1969, 1972: the cream of China’s entrepreneurial crop

Staff Reporter

2013-11-19

The years 1964, 1969 and 1972 were golden for the birth of Chinese entrepreneurs who now populate the upper echelons of China’s tech industries, according to the Chinese-language book Outliers, published in 2009. Take the top four icons in the industry, all born in 1964: founder of Kingsoft Computer Qiu Bojun, CEO of Legend Group Yang Yuanqing, CEO of Sohu Zhang Chaoyang and founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group Jack Ma. Read more of this post

Australian kangaroo exporters look to hop into meat-hungry China

Australian kangaroo exporters look to hop into meat-hungry China

2:28am EST

By Colin Packham

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Once considered pet food, kangaroo meat could soon be sold to China as a luxury product, to encourage Chinese consumers to do something few Australians will – eat it. With a booming middle class, China’s appetite for meat is expected to rise nearly 17 percent over the next eight years, the World Trade Organization says. Read more of this post

Lego in Asia: Who dares, plays; A toymaker taps into a new market for selling to pussycat mums

Lego in Asia: Who dares, plays; A toymaker taps into a new market for selling to pussycat mums

Nov 16th 2013 | SINGAPORE |From the print edition

SQUEEZED between the boutique cafés and posh handbag shops in a Singapore shopping mall, Joey Tan is offering something very different, even radical, to the city-state’s consumers: play. Her shop, a franchise of “bricks4kids”, is selling classes for children to play with Lego bricks, and her idea is clearly taking off. Read more of this post

Asia Is Personal-Care Product Makers’ Growth Market

Asia Is Personal-Care Product Makers’ Growth Market

By Caroline Winter  November 14, 2013

Makers of personal-care products target emerging markets in Asia for a simple reason: That’s where the growth is. Euromonitor International forecasts sales in China of such goods will rise 8 percent, to $37 billion, in 2014.

Supermarkets Offer Personalized Pricing

Supermarkets Offer Personalized Pricing

By Olga Kharif November 14, 2013

Kimberley Cornwell’s husband is on a high-protein diet, and he usually eats eggs for breakfast. So when a Safeway (SWY) shopping app offered a deal a few months ago on 18 eggs for $1.89, she took it. Cornwell had never given the store any information about her family’s health or fitness needs. The Chicago recruiter is a member of Safeway’s Just for U program, which uses complex algorithms to sift through shopping data to guess her needs and produce special personalized offers. “Sometimes I’d see something, and it’s a good deal or something I’d like to try,” Cornwell says. “I can usually save $10 to $20.” Read more of this post

Work ethic, comic hero make Koreans hot shots in car design

Work ethic, comic hero make Koreans hot shots in car design

4:19pm EST

By Norihiko Shirouzu and Hyunjoo Jin

(Reuters) – In today’s auto industry, where famed Japanese quality and durability are increasingly a given, design is king and, among designers, South Koreans are hot property. From General Motors’ bold Chevrolet Camaro to the quintessential British gentlemen’s Bentley, more top models carry the flair and signature of a group of designers from South Korea, which some have dubbed “Asia’s Italy” for its impact on car design, fashion and aesthetics. Read more of this post

The riskiest part yet of the Fukushima clean-up is soon to begin

The riskiest part yet of the Fukushima clean-up is soon to begin

Nov 16th 2013 | FUKUSHIMA |From the print edition

AMONG the twisted metal and random debris that litter much of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, the fourth reactor looks in relatively good condition. A new structure covers the damage from a hydrogen explosion that blew its roof off days after a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the plant in March 2011. But the building is still unstable, and its spent-fuel storage pool highly dangerous. This month Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) will start plucking out over 1,500 radioactive rods from the pool in order to store them more safely. Over the pool a crane waits to start the procedure, and a yellow radiation alarm stands at the ready. Experts call the operation the riskiest stage of the plant’s clean-up so far. Read more of this post

Reforming Japan: The thicket of reform; Though appearing committed to big structural change, the prime minister is moving too slowly

Reforming Japan: The thicket of reform; Though appearing committed to big structural change, the prime minister is moving too slowly

Nov 16th 2013 | TOKYO |From the print edition

ONE farmer in central Japan has long kicked against the system. Shigeaki Okamoto, in Aichi prefecture, abandoned the family tradition of growing chrysanthemums—symbol of the imperial family—for market, because it tied him to Japan Agriculture (JA), the giant state-sponsored co-operative that stifles much of farming. Instead Mr Okamoto learned to grow strawberries, which he could sell outside the JA system. But now the government listens less to JA and more to rebels like Mr Okamoto. He has helped design rules on farming for a series of new “special economic zones” that are part of the plans of the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, to revive the economy. Read more of this post