Jim Rickards: New Cold War With China Possible

President Trump and his team of trade and finance advisers had dinner with President Xi Jinping of China and his team.

The purpose was to discuss the ongoing trade war between China and the U.S. Trump’s team had presented the Chinese team with 142 specific trade demands.

The two sides went over the demands one by one during the course of their two-hour dinner. When they were done, both sides announced a 90-day “truce” in the trade wars. China agreed to negotiate in good faith on the demands and the U.S. agreed to delay the imposition of tariffs scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, 2019, until March 1, 2019, to give the negotiations time to proceed.

This was not a final deal, but it did allow markets to breathe a sigh of relief. The initial response of the stock market was a rally.

But just hours after the Trump-Xi announcements, Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, the CFO of Huawei, in Vancouver, British Columbia. The arrest was at the request of the United States, which had issued an arrest warrant for Meng last August on numerous charges including money laundering, espionage and selling telecommunications equipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.

Meng was arrested during a stopover in Vancouver on a flight from China to Mexico. She was avoiding U.S. territory but was apparently unaware of the U.S. arrest warrant and the degree of cooperation between Canada and the U.S. on criminal matters and extradition.Huawei is the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world and one of the largest tech companies in China. Meng is the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei.

The arrest of Meng threw global markets into turmoil. The Dow Jones industrial average index fell over 1,400 points, a 5.5% swoon, from the close on Monday, Dec. 3 to the close on Friday, Dec. 7. As of the Friday close, the Dow was down for the month, quarter and year. By the way, as of today, Dec. 13, it’s still down on the year.

By Sunday, Dec. 9, Canada was asking that Meng remain in jail pending the outcome of a hearing on whether she should be extradited to the U.S. to face a criminal trial. Meng’s lawyers were arguing that she should be granted bail and was not a flight risk because she owned property in Vancouver. She also argued that her health would be adversely affected by further incarceration. The Canadian court took these claims under advisement and planned to rule soon on the bail and extradition.

The Huawei arrest was more than a shock to markets. It was also a shock to the U.S.-China trade war negotiations. Both sides pledged to keep the negotiations on track, but China was publicly outraged by the arrest.

China told the Canadian ambassador that there would be “severe consequences” if Canada did not immediately release Meng. China’s Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng told the U.S. ambassador to China that “the actions of the U.S. seriously violated the lawful and legitimate rights of the Chinese citizen, and by their nature were extremely nasty.” Le also said, “China will respond further depending on U.S. actions.”

The Meng arrest is significant in its own right, but is even more significant when taken in the full context of U.S.–China relations and the possibility of a new Cold War.

Huawei is not only China’s largest telecommunications firm; it is a leader in the rollout of 5G technology for mobile phones. Huawei is alleged to have deep ties to the Communist Chinese government and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei started his career as a military technologist at the People’s Liberation Army research institute. U.S. intelligence estimates that Huawei is de facto controlled by PLA and has engineered trapdoors and other devices in Huawei equipment that allow Huawei to spy on customer message traffic and to capture private data.

The U.S. has already refused to allow Huawei to make acquisitions of U.S. companies and has banned Huawei from sales of equipment to the U.S. government. The U.S. has also urged its intelligence partners in the “Five Eyes” (U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to do likewise. Huawei’s business is suffering worldwide just as the 5G tech implementation begins.

The next steps in the case are still pending. The British Columbia court needs to decide on bail and possible extradition. If Canada extradites Meng to the U.S., she will almost certainly face a trial on criminal charges unless a plea deal can be worked out. In a worst case, Meng will spend years in a U.S. prison. At best, the case will inflict major damage on U.S.-China relations and the prospects for peace in the trade wars.

In the meantime, the 90-day “truce” that Trump and Xi negotiated in Buenos Aires is still officially in force.

The Chinese could offer token concessions and use the 90-day window to cook up new happy talk. Their hope will be that after 90 days of negotiations and some minor concessions, the U.S. will be reluctant to break the peace or impose the additional tariffs.

The 90-day period will also give the Chinese lobbyists time to gin up opposition to tariffs from U.S. agricultural importers. This is an important political constituency for Trump as we move closer to the 2020 presidential election season. Trump needs support from agricultural states like Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin to win his second term as president. It seems the Chinese understand U.S. politics better than most Americans.

The Chinese are also notorious for saying one thing and doing another. They will gladly sign an agreement that calls for reductions in the theft of intellectual property and then turn around and keep up the thefts (perhaps with a more covert method).

The Chinese have consistently broken their word when it comes to trade, beginning with their admission to the World Trade Organization in 2001. They will do it again once they tie the U.S.’ hands on tariffs.

The good news for the U.S. is that the Chinese tricks are fairly well-known by now. Trump’s most trusted and powerful adviser on trade is ambassador Robert Lighthizer, who was at the dinner. Lighthizer sees the Chinese for what they are and knows the litany of broken promises and lies better than the Chinese leadership.

If substantive improvements with adequate verification cannot be agreed upon with the Chinese by April 1, 2019, Lighthizer is ready to immediately raise tariffs on China. President Trump agrees with Lighthizer and will not hesitate to raise the tariffs. At that point, the trade wars will be back with a vengeance.

- Source, The Daily Reckoning via James Rickards

James Rickards: 2019 Headwinds Are Getting Stronger

In 2017, every prominent economic forecasting entity was shouting from the rooftops about “synchronized global growth.” This was a reference to the fact that not only were certain economies growing, but they were all growing at the same time.

Chinese GDP growth had come down but was still substantial at 6.85%. U.S. GDP growth was posting solid gains of 3.0% in the second quarter of 2017 and 2.8% in the third quarter. Japan and Europe were not growing as quickly as the U.S. and China, but growth was still accelerating from a low level.

Synchronization was a big part of the story. Growth was not isolated and episodic. Growth was fueling more growth in what seemed to be a sustainable way. The world economy was firing on all cylinders.

Then in 2018 the global growth story came screeching to a halt. Japanese growth went negative in the third quarter of 2018. Germany also went negative. Chinese growth continued its drop (6.5% in the third quarter) instead of stabilizing.

The U.K slowed partly because of confusion around Brexit. French growth slid amid riots triggered by a proposed carbon emissions tax. Australian home prices declined precipitously because export orders from China dried up and Chinese flight capital slowed to a trickle due to Chinese capital controls.

The U.S. economy held up fairly well in 2018, with 4.2% growth in the second quarter and 3.5% growth in the third quarter. But much of that growth was inventory accumulation from foreign suppliers in advance of proposed tariffs.

That inventory growth will likely dry up once the tariffs are either imposed or abandoned early this year. Fourth-quarter growth in the U.S. is currently projected at 3.0%, continuing the downtrend from the second quarter.

What happened?

Much of the global slowdown has to do with the high degree of interconnectedness of the global economy and the extent of global supply chains. The flip side of synchronized growth is a synchronized slowdown. Just as growth in one economy can lead to increased exports for trading partners, a slowdown leads to reduced exports.

Still, why has growth slowed down at all?

The answer has to do with debt, Fed policy, political developments, as well as trade wars. Specifically, the U.S. and China, the world’s two largest economies, are discovering the limits of debt-fueled growth.

The U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio is now 106%, the highest since the end of the Second World War. The Chinese debt-to-GDP ratio is a more reasonable 48%, but that figure is misleading because it does not include the debts and guarantees of provinces, state-owned enterprises, banks, wealth management products and numerous other entities that the government in Beijing is directly or indirectly obligated to support.

When that additional debt is taken into account, the real debt-to-GDP ratio is over 250%, about the same as Japan’s.

Debt-to-GDP ratios below 60% are considered sustainable; ratios between 60% and 90% are considered unsustainable and need to be reversed; and ratios in excess of 90% are in the red zone and will produce negative growth along with default through nonpayment, inflation or other forms of debt repudiation. The world’s three largest economies — the U.S., China and Japan — are all now deep in the red zone.

European growth is also slowing down. While the causes may vary, growth in all of the major economies in the EU and the U.K. is either slowing or has already turned negative.

What is striking is the speed with which synchronized global growth has turned to synchronized slowing. Indications are that this slowing is far from over. While growth can create a positive feedback loop, slowing can do the same.

The interconnectedness of global growth was summarized in this quote from Stephen “Sarge” Guilfoyle, director of floor operations for the New York Stock Exchange in a recent column for TheStreet’s Real Money:

There is an old adage, “When America sneezes, the world catches a cold.” What if the world’s two largest economies (U.S. and China) sneeze at the same time? Wait. I can top that. What if the U.S., China, the EU, Japan and the U.K. all sneeze at the same time? What if all mentioned are either involved in trade disputes, and/or the perverse use of both fiscal and/or monetary policies while suffering from heightened political risk? Oh, and at least temporarily, the U.S. faces a partial government shutdown as well. That’s a strong sort of fiscal/political mix.

Well, we already have the partial shutdown, now over two weeks old. On the political front, it’s sufficient to say that the dysfunction is getting worse, not better, and it will have an adverse effect on investor portfolios.

Democrats took charge of the House of Representatives last week on, Jan. 3, and they will use their committee control to launch literally dozens of investigations into “Russia collusion,” Trump’s business dealings, Trump’s inaugural financing, Trump’s tax returns, campaign finance, regulatory reforms, appointments and much more.

But Republicans continue to hold the U.S. Senate. They will use their committee control to hold hearings on FBI corruption, Intelligence Community abuse of spying powers, Hillary Clinton’s private server that held classified information and Democratic coverups on Benghazi, tea party IRS attacks, the Clinton Foundation “pay for play” deals with former Secretary of State Clinton, false accusations related to the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh and more.

In short, it’s war.

Some of these hearings are political stunts just for show. They will make great headlines over a one-day (or one-hour) news cycle but won’t lead to any substantive charges or changes. Yet other hearings could have grave consequences — especially those that may result in criminal charges, including the Clinton Foundation case.

Hanging over all of this is the specter of impeachment. The impeachment process begins in the House of Representatives. If the president is impeached, the matter is referred to the Senate for a trial. If convicted in a Senate trial, the president is removed from office and the Vice President (Mike Pence) becomes president.

Conviction in the Senate requires a super-majority of 67 votes to remove the president. Republicans currently hold 53 Senate seats. Assuming all 47 Democrats vote to remove the president, 20 Republicans would have to switch sides and vote to remove President Trump from office. This is extremely unlikely to occur.

The worst case for impeachment is that the House impeaches Trump but the Senate does not vote to convict him so he remains in office. The best case is that the House makes noise about impeachment, holds hearings but in the end does not vote to impeach.

Either scenario will be positive for Trump’s reelection chances in 2020. Americans may dislike a lot about Trump’s day-to-day demeanor, but Americans are also fair-minded people on the whole.

They will see impeachment as another over-the-top move by Democrats (like the made-up “Russia collusion” story) and actually begin to sympathize with the president. Trump is also a master at turning attacks around on his opponents.

Whether impeachment happens or not and whether Trump benefits or not is unimportant for investors. What is important is the impact of political dysfunction and uncertainty on portfolios.

There the news is not good.

Regardless of the outcome of impeachment, investors should be prepared for a bumpy ride as headlines swing from good to bad and back again for Trump.

Meanwhile, the Fed is raising interest rates and reducing its balance sheet. The Fed’s balance sheet has been reduced by $375 billion in the past 14 months. That balance sheet is scheduled to fall by another $600 billion this year and $600 billion the following year until the balance sheet reaches a level of $2.9 trillion by the end of 2020.

This kind of extreme balance sheet reduction is entirely experimental. It has never been attempted before in the 106-year history of the Federal Reserve.

Analysts estimate that reducing the balance sheet by $600 billion per year (the current tempo) is equivalent to increasing the fed funds target rate by 1% per year. This implied rate hike comes on top of the 0.25% rate hikes the Fed has been announcing every quarter. QT and actual rate hikes taken together are increasing rates by 2% per year from a 2.5% base, an extreme form of monetary tightening.

The Fed is tightening into weakness and will have to pivot towards easing once it becomes obvious. But it may very well be too late.

The bottom line is that uncertainty reigns and it’s not going away anytime soon. Investors can profit from this with a combination of long-volatility strategies, safe-haven assets, gold and cash.

Jim Rickards: Jerome Powell Caves to Market Demands

Fed Chair Jay Powell just sent the most powerful signal from the Fed since March 2015.

He has pretty much taken a March 2019 rate hike off the table until further notice. At a forum hosted by the American Economic Association in Atlanta last Friday, Powell used the word “patient” to describe the Fed’s approach to the next interest rate hike.

When Powell did this, he was reading from a script of prepared remarks in what was otherwise billed as a “roundtable discussion.”

This is a sign that Powell was being extremely careful to get his words exactly right. When Powell said the Fed would be “patient” in reference to the next rate hike, this was not just happy talk. The word “patient” is Fed code for “no rate hikes until we give you a clear signal.”

This interpretation is backed up by the Fed’s past use of verbal cues to signal ease or tightening in lieu of actual rate hikes or cuts. Prior to March 2015, the Fed consistently used the word “patient” in their FOMC statements.

This was a signal that there would not be a rate hike at the next FOMC meeting. Investors could do carry trades safely. Only when the word “patient” was removed was the Fed signaling that rate hikes were back on the table.

In that event, investors were being given fair warning to move to risk-off positions.

In March 2015, Yellen removed the word “patient” from the statement. In fact, the first rate hike (the “liftoff”) did not happen until December 2015, but the market was on notice through the June and September 2015 FOMC meetings that it could happen.

Now, for the first time since 2015, the word “patient” is back in the Fed’s statements, which means no future Fed rate hikes without fair warning.

For now, the Fed is rescuing markets with a risk-on signal. That's why the market rallied last Friday. But we're not out of the woods by any means.

The U.S. stock market had already anticipated the Fed would not raise rates in March. Friday’s statement by Powell confirms that, but this verbal ease is already priced in. As usual, the markets will want some ice cream to go with the big piece of cake they just got from Powell.

The next FOMC meeting is Jan. 30. If the Fed does not repeat the word “patient,” markets could be in for an extremely negative reaction.

Looking ahead to rest of 2019, what are my models and methods telling us today about the prospects for the economy and markets?

The answer to that question requires an overview of many markets and sovereign economies around the world. While forecasts for China, the U.S. and Europe may differ in many particulars, what they have in common is interconnectedness.

For example, a slowdown in China due to excessive debt and trade wars can reduce exports from Europe. In turn, reduced European exports can slow down European purchases of raw materials and other inputs and lead to a weaker euro.

The weaker euro can translate into a stronger dollar, which causes disinflation in the U.S. That disinflation can increase the real value of debt burdens in the U.S. if nominal growth is lower than the increase in the nominal deficit.

In other words, what happens in China does not stay in China. The world is densely connected. Any sound analysis must consider the ripples spreading out from any one factor.

We need to look at the synchronized global slowdown, the Fed’s misguided policies, currency wars, trade wars and political dysfunction in the U.S. to arrive at conclusions and forecasts for the U.S. and beyond.

All this takes place against a backdrop of mounting global debt.

According to the Institute of International Finance (IIF), it required a record $8 trillion of freshly created debt to create just $1.3 trillion of global GDP. The trend is clear. The massive debts intended to achieve growth are piling on every day. Meanwhile, many of the debts taken on since 2009 are still on the books.

This is a crisis waiting to happen. The combination of slow or negative growth and unprecedented debt is a recipe for a new debt crisis, which could easily slide into another global financial crisis.

The Fed will have to pivot back to loosening, including a possible reintroduction of quantitative easing. But by then, it may be too late.

Below, I show you why the economic head winds are getting stronger as we begin 2019. What can you do to prepare? Read on.

- Source, James Rickards

James Rickards: Stay in Gold and Cash, Ride Out the Coming Storm

Investors should play it safe and stay away from publicly-traded stocks that have more room to fall further, warns Jim Rickards, chief global strategist at West Shore Funds.

- Source, CNBC

Axis of Gold: Sanctions Weaponize the Dollar

Jim Rickards, author of The Road to Ruin, joins Remy Blaire at the NASDAQ MarketSite following the December FOMC rate announcement to discuss the trajectory of the Federal Reserve. 

Rickards weighs in on the U.S.-China trade war and the fundamental outlook for the global investment landscape.

- Source, Sprott Media

James Rickards: The Depression Is Over 10 Years Old and Not Over Yet

James G. Rickards, author and strategist, joins Remy Blaire of Sprott Media, to discuss gold and why "the little engine that could" will do more than chug higher when the Federal Reserve pauses. 

Rickards provides an explanation for why growth can occur during a depression and the warning signs that he considers point to an eventual recession in the U.S. economy.

- Source, Sprott Media