China and USA…Two Alerting Perspectives…. by each for each…Residential Housing Bubble in China & Country Rating Downgrade for USA…and where will our Sensex head in the second half of 2010 ?

China and USA…different political idealogies that makes for strange bedfellows….China deliberately keeps it’s Yuan low to benefit from exports to USA…get’s paid in US Dollars which it reinvests substantially in US Government Treasuries !..nearly US $ 900 billion of the US $ 2.3 Trillion Fx Reserves of China are invested in these Treasuries

USA was threatening to declare China manipulator of Currency…China agreed to revalue it’s Yuan upward a wee bit recently and also has just declared their continuing faith in the US Dollar and US Treasuries !

That’s some Consolation between the two on the surface….but the undercurrents run deep

Here are two Alerts….you can put it this way….one by China for USA and the other by USA for China! 

• Is China facing a Housing Bubble ?…the Western Countries seem to think so
• A Chinese Credit Rating Agency has just downgraded USA from  ‘AAA’ to  ‘AA’ Country Rating

Is China facing a Housing Bubble ?

Have a Look at the above Graph that matches the Value of Residential Housing against the Country’s GDP for USA,Japan,Hong Kong and China

In 1989,Japan shows a peak level of 3.8  and since shrunk to 2….Japan has been facing Economic Woes for the past two decades now…..China has reached an alerting level of 3.5 and if historic precedent is to be believed for this parameter,the Fall is inevitable….China is heading for a Real Estate Bubble soon

A Chinese Credit Rating Agency has just downgraded USA from  ‘AAA’ to  ‘AA’ Country Rating

Two months ago in May 2010 ago I had blogged on how the top Credit Rating Agency S & P yet continued USA’s Rating at ‘AAA’ 

S & P’s Sovereign Rating of USA remains at Top ‘AAA’….Amusing!

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Now China’s leading Credit Rating Company,Dagong Global Credit Rating Co has downgraded USA from ‘AAA’ to ‘AA’

The World’s Top Three Credit Rating Agencies…all based in the West….S & P,Moodys and Fitch….. have come in for  some scathing attacks…and justifiably too…they have lost considerable credibility in the past few years for their failures to spot and alert proactively  and, even more stupidly, reactively on Lehman’s Collapse,the Sub Prime Dangers,the Greece Problem among others….seems these rating agencies are a cartel with vested interests and agenda….when a Problem is so apparent even to a Commoner,it becomes difficult to believe that these Top Agencies run by Top People out of Top Colleges and Institutions and with Top Pedigree Degrees and Positions are really Dumb,Stupid and Incompetent or even Complacent!…..so the conclusion is that the ‘High Ratings’ maintained for Corporates and Countries by these Western Agencies is a deliberate Game plan not to break the Hand that’s feeding you…combined probably with a Political agenda too !…..Bloody Shame !

Though Dagong may not wield much global Influence,it’s action last week to downgrade USA will be seen as an unbiased and Non Western View of USA….a Pioneering and courageous forward step to call a Spade a Spade….despite the fact that China itself has a near US $ 900 Billion Investments in US Treasuries….and it may lead to a weakening Dollar and an increased Risk Premium for Dollar Investments and a fall in the Value of Dollar Investments….a True and Tough Call made by Dagong for USA, a Country whose massive Deficits will lead to Massive Debts that will soon eclipse it’s own GDP 

Where will our Sensex head now in the second half of 2010 ?

So while both USA and China continue to hope that Stimulus packages will bale their Economies out and GDP Growth rates would gradually move up or at least the decline will be stemmed,where does this leave India……Our Country is not decoupled enough yet not to feel the adverse Impact in case USA and China shrink….Fed Governor has finally removed the Gloves and warned Congress last week that the Labour,Housing and Credit Situation in USA yet remains dangerously worrisome

Our Sensex has crossed 18000 and Nifty 5400 while the Dow is struggling to stay above 10000….What if the Dow seeks lower 8000 levels by 2010 year end ! ? where would our Sensex head then !?….the way I see it on a macro level is like this…..when 2010 began I called that the first half of 2010 would see a Sensex range of 14000 to 18000…this was on the mark…..the second half has now commenced…I see our Sensex range in this half to be 16000 to 20000….the upmove range is considering that India will benefit from Good Monsoons,strong FII Inflows,Higher GDP Growth rate of 9.5% forecast for FY 11,Infrastructure and Consumption India Story being intact and strengthening of Corporate Earnings…my contention is that these positive drivers will net out the negatives of continuing High Inflation,increasing Interest rates and a possible Downtrend in USA and China Economies, Stock and Real Estate Markets….16000 on the Downside would me more by default if the Dow or China shrinks 

However on the Cautious Side,the Short Term does not strongly indicate a One Way Upward Movement for the Sensex…therefore you will have to contend with Volatility…..Therefore A Bottoms Up Approach with Specific Stock Selection would probably fetch you better returns than a Top Down or Index Strategy in the Short Term

Cheers !